CLP Group

The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndicate by Shewan, Tomes & Co. and others. In 1903, the company's first power station, with a generating capacity of 75 kW, was commissioned in Hung Hom at the junction of present-day Chatham Road and Princess Margaret Road. By 1919, the company was supplying electricity for street lights in Kowloon.

The Kadoorie family joined the CLP board of directors in 1930 and retains control of the company as of 2013.

In 1983, the company established a joint venture with Guangdong Nuclear Power for the construction and operation of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant.

On 6 January 1998, CLP Holdings Limited replaced China Light & Power Company Limited as the new holding company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

In 2018, CLP established a new branch, CLP Innovation (previously named) and now CLP Digital. The branch has a separate company listing, Smart Energy Connect (SEC) that provides environmentally friendly solutions.

In recent years, CLP has sought to expand outside of its native Hong Kong, accomplishing this through mergers and acquisitions. Markets outside Hong Kong it has entered include Australia (through EnergyAustralia), India, Mainland China, Southeast Asia mainly (Thailand and Indonesia) and Taiwan.

Its first market outside Hong Kong was mainland China, where it began supplying power through connecting its power stations in Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland grid in 1979

The 1990s saw the start of expansionary M&A activity with CLP acquiring nearly a half-dozen companies between 1996 and 2005. In 1996 the company entered joint-ventures with Taiwan Cement Corporation; in 1998, part ownership of Thai Electricity Generating Public Co Ltd; and in 2001, Australian Yallourn Energy. It expanded operations in Australia to include retailing when it bought TXU Merchant Energy in 2005. And in 2002 CLP acquired an Indian company, Gujarat Paguthan Energy Corporation Private Limited.