Hmm...
Toward the end of last year the government announced a rebate of up to HK $300 per month on all electricity bills, supposedly to help the poor. A nice gesture, I thought, although coincidentally our first bill following the announcement was exactly the same as we were expecting without the rebate. Somehow we managed to use $300 more electricity.
Anyway, I haven't really thought much more about it until today. Our bill for last month was zero. Thanks to the cold weather we'd only managed to spend $292 on electricity, rebated down to nothing. Great, one might think, except that today I went in to switch off the dehumidifier because the washing was almost dry and then thought "well, we might as well make the most of the rebate – the bill's bound to be less than $300 again this month otherwise."
Thankfully, my conscience got the better of me and I did turn it off, but how many less environmentally responsible people took far less time than me to reach the conclusion that they have been given a licence to waste electricity?
Not sure that's had the desired effect at all. Surely if the aim was to help the poor a means tested system would be far preferable?
Edit: while writing this post I came across this blog saying a similar thing much better than I have.
Hey, thanks for the link and the nice words. The subsidy is very depressing for sure, although if they stressed it carried forward it may help...Fat chance. Nice blog, by the way...
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