During PM Lee’s National Day Rally 2008 speech, it was announced that the govt will help ordinary folks like you and me cope with inflation. The solution took the form of growth dividend and utilities rebate aptly name U-Save.
You can read about my summary of NDR2008 here
It doesn’t really matter if you do not know how much U-save you had been given, because basically.. it is gone as of last night.
Perhaps sensing that this was the opportuned time, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) announced last night about impending electricity tariff increases.
Full report here
Full report here
Explaining why there was a need to increase the tariff:
Chief executive of EMA Mr Khoo Chin Hean, said at a press briefing on Monday that the higher tariffs have been due to the increase in oil prices.
EMA said 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.
Since 2004, electricity tariffs here have been pegged to projected oil prices for the next three months instead of current oil prices.
Mr Khoo said the old practice made the cost of electricity very volatile.
And in a feedble attempt to convince everyone that the increases are ‘not so bad’…
The EMA said the government’s U-save rebates of S$310 to S$330 to help offset increases in utilities bills is more than enough to cover this year’s electricity price increase for one-, two- and three-room HDB flats.
For four-room HDB households, the increase to the bill size for this year would be marginally higher than the U-save rebate given. These homes received S$295 in U-save rebates. But the total bill size for 2008 is estimated at S$316.
Lastly, to rub salts into the the gaping wound you have in your pockets…
The EMA feels there is more room for Singaporeans to conserve and use less energy. That’s because the EMA’s surveys and findings show that nearly 40 per cent of Singapore homes are using more energy than they require to. And the air conditioner is one of the largest energy guzzlers in homes here.
Khoo Chin Hean, chief executive, EMA, said: “There is a lot of use which can be curtailed. There is probably quite a bit of wasteful usage. It is this kind of usage we can be more mindful of and take measures to manage our consumption.”
Filed under: garmen, In the News
