CDCs' energy-saver bulb lightens load of the needy

Goh Chin Lian, Straits Times 20 Aug 08;

MADAM Sim Lian Choon hopes that when she receives her electricity bill next month, her charges will be lower.

The 82-year-old Marsiling Road resident has just had a new energy-saving light bulb installed in her one-room rental flat.

The bulb, courtesy of the North West Community Development Council (CDC), uses 80 per cent less energy and can last 10 times longer than an incandescent light bulb.

This will make a huge difference to Madam Sim, who is unemployed and lives alone. She pays just over $50 a month on average for electricity, $10 more than a year ago.

'I live on the little savings I have,' she said in Hokkien.

The North West and South West CDCs have installed energy-saving bulbs in more than 5,000 low-income households, to reduce their power bills.

The mayors overseeing the two CDCs - Dr Teo Ho Pin (North West) and Dr Amy Khor (South West) - have been championing energy-saving measures.

They believe that providing low-income families with energy-saving lamps will help them make a start.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, cited the scheme as one of the ways in which the CDCs here are helping low-income households cope with the higher cost of living.

CDCs are not short of ideas. Among other projects are workshops that help families manage their budgets, and lessons in how to cook cheap but nutritious meals.

Other schemes provide direct assistance, such as providing students with lunches at school, book vouchers and free eye-care services.

In addition to costlier food, electricity tariffs for households went up by 5 per cent last month, to 25.07 cents per kilowatt-hour. Residents living in a one-room HDB flat like Madam Sim were told to expect their monthly bill to go up by an average of $1.20.

More needy residents, who say they have difficulty coping with higher costs, have been coming forward in search of assistance, said Dr Teo.

His CDC, for instance, saw 540 social assistance cases in the first seven months of this year. This was a 40 per cent jump from the number it handled last year.

Dr Khor said her CDC saw an 11 per cent increase in the number of financial and social assistance applications in the first half of this year.

'We are closely monitoring the situation on the ground. We have officers looking for gaps that we can fill at the local level,' she said.

In fact, her CDC has already increased its budget for food vouchers given to needy residents by 25 per cent, to $100,000, she added.

Both Dr Teo and Dr Khor said that CDCs will need more helping hands and more money, given the increased number of residents seeking help.

Dr Khor expects that programmes specifically initiated by her CDC will cost close to $1 million in the current financial year - up from $723,000 the previous year.

This means having to rope in more sponsors.

The energy-saving bulbs installed by the two CDCs, for instance, were donated by lighting company Osram Singapore and Philips Electronics Singapore.

To raise more funds, Dr Teo also launched a philanthropy club in May this year. It has 40 members so far, each of whom donates $100 a month to the North West CDC's food-aid fund.

The fund pays for dried goods and frozen food for needy families.

'We hope to encourage more companies to come forward and give a helping hand to lower-income residents in our district,' he added.

Additional reporting by Jessica Cheam