ELECTRICITY bills for Singapore households will go up by about 21 per cent from Wednesday - the highest one-time increase in seven to eight years - due to higher oil prices.
With this latest tariff revision, households in three-room flats will see their utilities bills go up by $14. Families in five-room flats will pay about $23 more a month, on average, with the price of electricity going up from about 25 cents per kilowatt-hour to about 30 cent

F1 lah! Proud of Sg lah! Well done lah!

'Fuel costs make up about 60 per cent of electricity tariffs, which are reviewed quarterly and adjusted according to changes in the cost of electricity. The other 40 per cent includes the cost of generating electricity, maintenance and equipment.' - means if the 40% component did not change, fuel costs (the 60% component) has been increased by 33.33% since overall tariffs up by 20% - - dovetails with EMA saying 'the projected fuel oil price for the next three months is set to jump to $155.14 a barrel, up 38 per cent from $112.35 for the current quarter.'

However, the $155.14 a barrel projection is contentious. While supply-side uncertainty suggests a floor near $90, the economic outlook for this quarter and next is weak. Developing financial crisis is likely to impact real economy through credit tightening, reducing oil demand in the coming quarters. Indeed, demand is now slowing in OECD as well as non-OECD countries due in part to recent high prices, and given the sharp retreat in front-end NYMEX crude future contract prices from record $148/barrel high in July to almost $90/barrel last week, it’s hard to envisage the average fuel price to hover around $155.14/barrel next quarter.

Increase during barrel price down so when barrel price up again, got excuse to increase again.

Like China... everything after the event then go back to square one... how come not increased before F1 then they have to pay more for the lighting ups.

Guarantee the increase in business cost will be passed to the hapless consumer. In the meantime, salary frozen hor.

It's a very unfair and greedy thing. 21 % this is crazy numbers. Barrel price has been going down, tarrif has beeen going up all the time the last 6 months. so now the old method does not suit electrical company profile they increase again. Such inflation numbers are mad. If singapore economy continues like this it will crash. how can people cope light candles. Your hdb don't have good light penetrance. I live in condo with a 50 dollar utility bill, because light is there, i look at hdb it's dark so people swicth light on, you did not conceive those hdb to receive enough natural light. you always offset to the porrer but do you realize that 21% increase is a mad increase number. Singapore economy really freaks me more and more. one year of time st index crash 1400 points. hdb prices at 600k. people still earning 2k a month. everything is so disproportionate. I think goverment relies too much on foreign investment, one day it will stop and hit singaporeans even more hard in the face. The energy dependance is a long lasting propblem for singapore, it looks that gorverment is really late on tackling this issue and appear really useless. electricity company should be public. 21 % increase can only be justified for profit reasons nothing else. This is bad bad bad for just burning so much energy after f1, it makes us feel that the public is paying for the f1 lighting of the circuit. so unfair

that of using projected prices rather current prices so that prices aren't so volatile is pure baloney - when the underlying prices are so volatile, like never before, it doesn't matter what prices you use, projected or current, prices are going to be volatile.

of course, this being a monopoly basically, the supplier can always have anti-trust practices. charge ridiculous projected prices (projected by whom?) and people will still have to pay, or they will have their electricity cut. if the projections were off-the-mark, esp by a substantial margin, are they going to be more conservative in their next projections? here they are simply trying to gaze into the crystal ball, not even professional fund managers these days can predict where the market is heading, not in the next three months at least. so, we have gods in the EMA, huh?

Let me share with you my experience with living costs in my Grade A Condo building in Bangkok.

Last month I received a notice from MEA (Metropolitan Electricty Authority) of Thailand announcing that due to hardship to its customers caused by high fuel costs, the rates for electricity for home use will be reduced for the next 6months - from August 2008 to January 2009. For the first 100 KWH - free, 101 to 150 KWH - 50% discount, above 150 KWH - normal rate (Baht 4/KWH -about S$0.16/KWH).

For Singaporeans to be told that the electricity rate has to be increased by another 21% "due to higher oil prices" is unbelievable!

Either Thailand is operating its power generating plants more efficiently than Singapore's, or one country has more compassion than the other. Or perhaps it is greed?

You decide!

21% increase? That's mad.

Now the public has to bail out the power companies?