The Energy Market Authority (EMA) has announced pre-emptive measures to enhance Singapore's energy security and resilience. The extraordinary move would surprise Singaporeans, many of whom take energy security - manifested in the absence of power outages here, for example - for granted in a way that would be the envy of many countries. However, the measures are necessary in order to prioritise energy security amid the global fuel crunch caused by a confluence of increased gas consumption from recovering economic activity, severe weather events, and a series of gas production outages that have disrupted supplies and driven global market prices to new highs. Governments everywhere are acting to secure sufficient fuel supplies.

The EMA's measures include establishing standby fuel facilities which power generation companies, or gencos, here can draw on to produce electricity. The EMA is working with all gencos to track their fuel supply levels and generating capacity. The pre-emptive action gains greater urgency in the light of the exit of several electricity retailers from Singapore. That is worrying because the process of electricity generation and distribution involves four main players: gencos, retailers, the EMA and the SP Group. While consumers are being protected from the effects of the independent retailers' withdrawal from the market, the larger picture requires ensuring that the seven main gencos have sufficient staying power to continue to serve the public.