Average monthly electricity bill for all households set to increase in the new year

For the period from 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2017, electricity tariffs will increase by an average of 5.7% or 1.07 cents per kWh compared to the previous quarter. The tariff increase is due to the higher cost of natural gas for electricity generation, which increased by 10.6% compared to the previous quarter.

For households, the electricity tariff will increase from 19.13 to 20.20 cents per kWh for 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2017. The average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will increase by $4.30.

The electricity tariff consists of the following four components:

• Energy costs (paid to the generation companies): This component is adjusted quarterly to reflect changes in the cost of power generation.
• Network costs (paid to SP PowerAssets): This fee is reviewed annually.
• Market Support Services Fee (paid to SP Services): This fee is reviewed annually.
• Market Administration and Power System Operation Fee (paid to Energy Market Company and Power System Operator): This fee is reviewed annually to recover the costs of operating the electricity wholesale market and power system.

SP Services reviews the electricity tariffs quarterly based on guidelines set by the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the electricity industry regulator.