Electricity retailers’ residential plans offer lower electricity rates during off-peak hours

SINGAPORE - At least four electricity retailers are offering plans with lower off-peak rates, as 80 per cent of all residential premises in Singapore have smart electricity meters that tell users how much power they consume and when.

These plans offer different rates for using electricity at different times of the day and can help users lower their bills.

As at Nov 6, utility operator group SP Group said it has installed more than 1.3 million smart electricity meters for residential premises – which is at least 80 per cent of the households in Singapore.

The nationwide deployment of smart meters is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Consumers with these meters can view their half-hourly electricity usage on an app to track their consumption patterns and find ways to reduce their electricity usage.

Four of six retailers with residential plans offer time-of-use plans, according to the Energy Market Authority (EMA): Geneco, PacificLight Energy, Keppel Electric and Senoko Energy Supply.

According to website checks, there are at least five time-of-use plans available. Tuas Power will also launch one in 2026.

Mr Chen Jia switched to a time-of-use plan in August – a Geneco contract that offers a lower electricity rate from 7pm to 7am – after realising that it matches his lifestyle and energy usage patterns.

“Since no one is at home during the day, most of my electricity consumption happens in the evenings when I return home after 7pm,” said the 37-year-old engineer.

“The plan suits my lifestyle perfectly because no one is at home from 7am to 7pm, and most of my energy use, such as cooking, laundry, and air-conditioning, happens after 7pm,” he said. He added that this has allowed him to maximise his electricity cost savings, without revealing figures.

Currently, by default, households buy electricity from SP Group at the regulated tariff for electricity, which is reviewed regularly.

But consumers can choose to buy electricity from a retailer at a price plan that suits their needs.

“The whole intention of time-of-use plans is to encourage consumers to use more electricity during the off-peak period, instead of using only during the peak period,” said Mr Lim Han Kwang, chief executive of Geneco.

PacificLight Energy’s general manager Geraldine Tan said: “By shifting energy-intensive activities such as laundry, air-conditioning, or charging appliances to off-peak hours, households can reduce their electricity bills while helping to balance Singapore’s overall electricity demand.”

The global energy crisis in 2022 could also have affected how consumers are paying for their electricity, said Dr David Broadstock, a partner at economic consultancy The Lantau Group. Following

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022,

energy prices around the world soared as countries tried to wean themselves off Russian gas.

“Some households had met with significant price instability, which could have left them very cautious of prices,” he said.

This is especially the case for households who were buying electricity from the wholesale electricity market, where consumers pay for electricity at prices that vary every half-hour depending on the demand and supply situation in the market.

Time-of-use plans could incentivise consumers to avoid the extreme fluctuations of the wholesale electricity market, he added.

PacificLight’s Ms Tan said the company has seen a rise in demand for time-of-use plans over the years as “households became more conscious of their electricity usage and sought greater control over their energy costs”.

One of its plans – which offers lower electricity rates from 9pm to 9am with no contract – saw sign-ups triple in 2025, from 2024. It was first launched in late 2022.

Ms Tan added that such plans have drawn higher interest from households with higher electricity consumption.

Experts said that time-of-use plans could also help with shifting users’ consumption patterns, thus allowing the grid to be better utilised.

Geneco’s Mr Lim said that the grid is sized to handle the highest peak demand. This means that grid infrastructure has to be built to cater to the highest peak demand, even if the usage during off-peak hours is low.

According to EMA, the national grid’s peak demand is predicted to rise every year over the next five years. Demand peaks in the power system refer to peaks in electricity consumption by consumers, which typically happen during the hotter months of the year, and when commercial and industrial activities are running at full speed in the afternoon.

But the grid could be more efficiently used if some of the load during peak hours could be shifted to the off-peak period, Mr Lim added.

This could also help with lowering costs for building grid infrastructure, especially when electricity demands are projected to rise.

“Not having too big a network keeps our costs low by being efficient in terms of how we deploy resources. This will translate to lower electricity prices and ultimately, that will benefit the whole economy,” he said.

Mr Michael Wong, chief operating officer at Tuas Power, said that shifting users’ consumption habits could also help to better align demand for electricity to its supply, which can help in lowering costs.

For example, if demand for electricity remains high and inflexible during the peak hours, the required supply capacity to meet the peak demand would have to be higher and could incur higher cost, he said.

Spreading out power use more evenly throughout the day also contributes to a more stable grid, said Mr Wong, who added that a sudden surge in demand may cause instability.

Such plans could also help to ease pressure on the grid and support Singapore’s transition to a more sustainable energy system, said Ms Tan. “Over time, as more consumers adopt time-of-use plans and adjust their usage behaviour, the collective impact helps create a more balanced electricity demand profile,” she said.

This would help the integration of a greater share of renewable and low-carbon energy sources into Singapore’s power mix, which is a critical step towards achieving the nation’s net-zero emissions goal by 2050, Ms Tan said.

“Time-of-use plans help flatten the overall demand curve, making electricity consumption patterns more predictable. This benefits the supply side by enabling more efficient generation and better integration of renewable energy sources, including intermittent ones such as solar.”