wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Today Online 6 Mar 07
Shop for electricity
New system could let one pick a provider online, in stores
Christie Loh christie@mediacorp.com.sg

THE day may soon come when you can go online to buy electricity from your preferred provider.

Under a world's-first electricity vending system that the regulator is testing, retailers will be able to "post their electricity supply schemes and prices at various points-of-sale such as the Internet and convenience stores", Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran revealed in Parliament.

Until yesterday, it was uncertain how the energy market's liberalisation--started in 2001--would spread to households.

Economically, it made more sense for service providers to invest in, for instance, new billing systems, for big energy users such as businesses. But this dilemma may soon be addressed with the new system. It would reduce the administrative and business costs of serving the 1.2 million households, which make up a quarter of total electricity demand here, said Mr Iswaran, who was responding to Opposition Member of Parliament Low Thia Khiang's question about allowing households to switch freely between service providers.

But it will be several years before consumers can start buying power from a company other than SP Services.

This is because the new system developed by the Energy Market Authority will take two to three years to stabilise. If it is found to work, "there is a very high chance that the real benefits will accrue to the consumer in a switch to contestability", said Mr Iswaran.

Since 2003, about 10,000 big customers--accounting for 75 per cent of the electricity market--have been able to choose between service providers such as Tuas Power and PowerSeraya, other than SP Services.

Competition has helped keep electricity prices low, said Mr Iswaran. Over the last six years, tariffs have risen steadily by just eight per cent, despite fuel oil prices having gone up by 80 per cent.

"This is clear proof that the policy is working and the market is working in favour of our consumers," he said.

Furthermore, the number of arrears on electricity bills has fallen since the introduction of the pay-as-you-use (Payu) scheme in May 2005. Last month saw 6,700 accounts--half of them on the Payu scheme--whose payments were overdue for three months and more. This is 37 per cent lower than the 9,000-odd arrears in January 2005.

Responding to MP Sam Tan's query as to whether there had been "masking" of numbers, Mr Iswaran said "no magic" is involved, only "a simple account management process" to determine who is in arrears.
links
Related articles on Singapore: green energy
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com