Abandoned by power retailers, SMEs zapped by electricity bill shock

Singapore

SMALL and medium-size businesses have been stung by hefty bill shocks since their power retailers closed shop last year amid staggering spikes in electricity spot prices and left them high and dry. Worse, these businesses have since been stuck with SP Services's wholesale electricity price (WEP) plan - a costly option amid current elevated prices - as other retailers turn them away, citing "finite" capacity.

David Ng, owner of an engineering firm he founded in the late 1970s, was aghast when he got his December electricity bill from SP for his factory located in an industrial area near Changi Airport. The power bill for the site that makes automation equipment from packaging to processing had quadrupled to S$8,000. iSwitch was previously his provider until the largest independent and fourth largest retailer in Singapore said last October that it was bowing out, citing tough market conditions.