Electricity tariff for households falls for January to March; gas tariff rises slightly

The average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will decrease by $2.39, before GST. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - The electricity tariff for households will fall by 3.1 per cent for the next three months compared with the quarter before, while the gas tariff will increase slightly by 0.23 per cent.

The electricity tariff will decrease from decrease from 21.43 to 20.76 cents per kWh from Jan 1 to March 31, excluding the goods and services tax (GST).

The rate including GST is 22.21 cents per kWh.

As a result, the average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will decrease by $2.39, before GST, said SP Group.

The fall is due to lower energy costs, it explained.

In a separate statement, City Gas announced on Wednesday that from Jan 1 to March 31, the gas tariff before GST will rise by 0.04 cent per kilowatt hour (kWh), from 17.19 cents per kWh to 17.23 cents per kWh.

The piped town gas producer and retailer explained that this is due to an increase in fuel costs compared with the previous quarter.

On why electricity tariffs decreased but gas tariffs rose when both are dependent on fuel, Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director of the Nanyang Technological University's Energy Research Institute, said there are many supply and demand factors to be considered.

"For gas, these include global production and storage levels, as well as long-term supply contracts by Singapore companies," he said.

"(Other than fuel costs), electricity tariffs paid by consumers are also affected by differences between electricity consumption forecasts and actual consumption."

Both City Gas and SP Group review tariffs based on guidelines set by the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the gas and electricity industry regulator which approves the new tariffs as well.

Earlier in the third quarter, the gas tariff increased by 5 per cent for households while the electricity tariff rose by around 9 per cent.

Despite the rise, electricity prices at the time were still the second-lowest they had been in the last three years while gas prices were at their third-lowest levels in the same period.

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