Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia 27 Aug 08;
SINGAPORE: A new way of buying electricity is expected to result in lower energy costs for home-owners.
To be on trial later this year, the Electricity Vending System (EVS) is the latest stage in a S$3 million project. If successful, it will be rolled out to all 1.2 million homes and small shops.
The EVS aims to bring down household energy bills by giving customers the freedom to choose different electricity packages from suppliers.
The EVS allows a home owner to buy electricity from vending machines at the touch of a screen. Terminals will be placed at convenience stores and customers will also be able to buy electricity via the Internet and their mobile phones.
Once payment is made, the amount is instantly credited to the user's home electricity monitor via wireless technology. The monitor will beep when the credit runs low to warn home-owners to top up their accounts.
And if the user registers their handphone number, an SMS will be sent advising them to top up their accounts. This can be done via a reply SMS.
One of the biggest ways consumers could save money through this system is simply by being more aware of how much electricity they use.
A consumer display unit will show exactly how much electricity is being used at any one time. As soon as an appliance is switched on, the number on the display unit rises.
For example, switching on a light bulb uses little energy but turning on an electric kettle causes electricity usage to shoot up. Hence, users will be able to see instant savings when they turn off appliances.
The Energy Market Authority (EMA), Singapore's energy market regulator, expects electricity suppliers to offer different peak and off-peak packages to suit the different lifestyles of consumers.
1,000 volunteers from Marine Parade and West Coast will test out the EVS. The trial at Marine Parade will start in November this year, while that at West Coast will start in February 2009. Each trial will last for six months.
Seow Kang Seng, EMA's director of consumer safety and crisis management, said: "In order to keep the costs low for the pilot projects, we actually tried to look for places which have a good mix of private housing, HDB housing and some small shops such that we can get enough volunteers to take part and get a good mix."
Competition will keep prices down. Since 2003, about 10,000 large industrial users, which account for 75% of electricity demand, have been able to negotiate their own electricity rates with SP Services or private retailers such as Tuas Power Supply and Keppel Electric.
But small consumers such as households have only been able to buy electricity from SP Services at a flat rate through monthly bills.
The new monitor for EVS costs more than the current electricity meter, but this is expected to be less than the amount currently spent on the billing, opening and closing of accounts and meter reading, which would no longer be necessary.
Mr Seow said: "Currently we have these processes like account opening, account closing, billing, meter readings, account management processes. Under the EVS system, all these processes will not be required."
If the trials are successful, all households will eventually be switched to the EVS. But it will not be rolled out islandwide until at least 2010.
- CNA/ir
New meters to track households' energy use
Trial involving 1,000 homes will also offer different electricity price plans
Tania Tan, Straits Times 27 Aug 08;
A PILOT project to help households keep tabs on their energy consumption will be rolled out soon.
Advanced electricity meters which give consumers detailed information on their energy usage will be a key focus of the six-month project, which will begin in November.
The meters will be fitted in 1,000 households in the eastern and western regions during the test.
The devices can give consumers an idea of how much energy they are using, including hourly consumption, and the rates they are paying, down to the last cent.
By doing so, they can help consumers to know when to reduce their energy consumption if necessary.
Said Energy Market Authority (EMA) director for consumer safety and crisis management Seow Kang Seng: 'If they think they're using too much, then they can switch off certain appliances and scale back usage.'
Another key plank of the pilot project is a trial of the so-called Energy Vending System, a telco-style billing and consumption plan that will allow households to pick which energy provider and pricing structure they want in future.
Currently, consumers have no choice but to buy electricity from just one company - SP Services - at a flat rate of 25 cents per kWh.
Under the trial, SP Services will simulate a free market: It will offer participating households electricity priced at peak and off-peak rates, the cost of which will depend on when users tap into the power grid.
Said Mr Seow: 'It's like buying mobile phone plans. Consumers can pick packages which best suit their lifestyles.'
Participants in the trial will be able to buy electricity online or at two 'vending machines' in Marine Parade and West Coast. The areas are selected because they give the best mix of HDB and private housing and small businesses.
Feedback from the trial will be studied before a decision is made late next year on whether to give the system the green light.
If the go-ahead is given, about 1.2 million households can expect to be on the Electricity Vending System in about three years' time.
The system is expected to produce more competitive energy pricing, since different retailers will be bidding to win consumers, said Mr Seow.
However, he was unable to say just how much cheaper electricity would be under the new system.
He was confident, however, that the trial will go smoothly.
'We do not foresee anything that's too difficult to resolve,' he said.
