Electricity tariff cuts: Impact on households

Usage dipped 1.4% when prices were high last month; with price fall, homes will save more

Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 5 Dec 08;

HOMES and businesses here powered down last month just as electricity prices hit a high.

Maximum power consumption dipped 1.4 per cent in the very month that electricity prices climbed 21 per cent - the biggest hike in seven years.

The electricity and gas industry regulator, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said yesterday that the decline was probably due to the slowing economy.

The agency's chief executive designate Lawrence Wong hoped that energy conservation was also playing a part.

'With the increase of this quarter, people have been very conscious about the use of electricity,' said Mr Wong.

Some, however, are cutting back on power consumption because of problems paying their bills.

As of October, there were over 18,000 households with problems making payments, according to statistics provided yesterday.

Some 5,090 households are in arrears and another 13,243 households are on the Pay As You Use scheme which replaces conventional power meters with meters that work only if an account has sufficient credit.

In December 2006, there were about 12,200 households on the special meters.

They will get some help with the latest cut in electricity tariffs.

Households can expect to save anything from $8 a month for one-room HDB households to $63 for families in private homes.

A government programme known as Utilities-Save (U-Save) also provides rebates of $130 to $330 this year to households.

In addition, community development councils offer vouchers to needy residents who have problems keeping up with payments.

For 59-year-old Rahmat Haroun, a cargo warehouse helper who lives in a four-room flat, the U-Save rebates amount to $295 this year.

The amount covers two months' utilities charges, about $130 a month for his family of six.

Electricity charges make up 54 per cent of his total utilities bill, which also includes water and refuse collection charges.

'We've always not used a lot of electricity anyway. I only switch on the lights at 7pm when I come home from work. And we try to sleep by 9pm, so we switch off the lights and television by then, and we don't have an air-conditioner,' said Mr Rahmat.

He earns $900 a month, and lives with his wife and four children aged 24 to 28.

Household electricity charges may become even cheaper in three years, when Singapore's household electricity sector is opened up to competitors of Singapore Power.

Electricity prices have already come down 3 per cent to 8 per cent among industrial users, after the sector was opened up to competition.

For households, the EMA has started with a six-month pilot programme in Marine Parade and West Coast to simulate a system where there are several electricity providers to choose from.

If this works, the system will be rolled out to all 1.2 million households in Singapore.