Man charged over S$1,000 for Sembcorp electricity in July 2020

A man took to social media to post his Sembcorp electricity bill and ask others if they had an explanation as to why he was charged over S$1,000 for his bill in July.

In a Facebook post on the ‘COMPLAINT SINGAPORE’ group, one netizen, Chai See Yin, wrote: “My electricity bill for last month jump from $43 to $1016 for 3 person staying in a 2 rooms house!”

“The explanation from Sembcorp is due to CB period they can’t take our meter reading and now the charges is the accumulated from the past 5 months”, he added.

“Should I pay?”, Mr Chai asked.

His average monthly bill for the year 2020 only came up to S$39.01, but for the month of July, the man was charged S$1,016.39.

“I fully understand the situation but I don’t agree that the amount become so huge as my average usage is around $50 plus” he wrote.

“Anyone encounter the same issue? What should I do next?,” Mr Chai asked other netizens.

In response to media queries, Sembcorp Industries’ Head of Consumer Business (Singapore) said verification of the household’s readings against its billings with SP Group will be done in cases such as Chai’s.

SP Group does all on-site meter readings even though the household’s electricity provider might be different.

In a Facebook post earlier this month, SP wrote: “During the Circuit Breaker period, meter reading was suspended. Your consumption for this period was estimated based on your average daily consumption, as calculated from your last two meter readings”.

“If your meters were read in March, your consumption for April, May and June was estimated, and adjusted when your meters were read again in July. If you see a spike in your current bill, this is because of the cumulative under-estimated amounts that have been added to reflect your actual consumption for the past few months,” it added. -/TISG