S’pore Electricity Tariffs Will Go Up By 1.2% In Q3 Due To Higher Energy Costs

SP Group Electricity Tariffs Will Go Up, Average S$1.14 Monthly Increase For 4-Room Flats

Over the past year, Singaporeans have enjoyed three consecutive quarters of falling household electricity bills.

Like the saying goes, what goes down must come up — that apparently applies to electricity tariffs as well.

Thus, the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 will sadly see our electricity tariffs go up by 1.2%.

The reason for the increase is higher energy costs.

Electricity tariffs to go up from 1 July to 30 Sep

In a news release on Friday (30 June), SP Group said the higher prices will take effect from 1 July to 30 Sep 2023.

They’ll rise by an average of 1.2%, or S$0.31 per kilowatt hour (kWh), compared with Q2 2023.

For households, this translates to an increase from 27.43 to 27.74 cents per kWh during the period, before taking into account the 8% Goods & Services Tax (GST).

This reverses a steady decrease in electricity tariffs in the last three quarters. The last time they went up was in Q3 of 2022.

In Q2, electricity tariffs went down by 5.3% from Q1.

Electricity tariffs will go up due to higher energy costs

As for the reason behind the increase, SP Group gave a familiar explanation — higher energy costs.

Energy costs, which are paid to generation companies, are adjusted quarterly according to changes in the costs of two aspects — fuel and power generation — the company said.

Fuel costs pertain to the cost of imported natural gas, which is indexed to oil prices by commercial contracts. About 95% of Singapore’s electricity is generated using imported natural gas.

Power generation costs, on the other hand, refer mainly to the operation costs of the power stations. They include manpower and maintenance costs and the capital cost of the stations.

There has been no change in the other three components of the electricity tariffs, i.e.:

1. network costs
2. market support services fee
3. market administration and power system operation fee

Projected changes for different households

SP Group reviews the electricity tariffs every quarter based on guidelines set by the Energy Market Authority (EMA), which regulates the industry.

Hence, they’ve released the following projected tariff changes for different households with EMA’s approval:

For example, a household in a 4-room flat can expect a S$1.14 average increase in their monthly bill, while those living in a bungalow will have an increase of S$7.14.

Now that we’ve been informed in advance, do be mindful of your electricity consumption if you don’t want a shock at the end of the month.

Hopefully, Q4 won’t see a further increase in electricity tariffs.

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Featured image adapted from Mike Enerio at Unsplash.