Volatile electricity prices zap number of Singapore households on retail contracts

ALMOST 40 per cent of Singapore households are currently on retail contracts for their electricity needs, down from a peak of nearly 50 per cent in 2021, after wild swings in energy prices and bill shocks drove some consumers back to the default energy provider SP Services.

The Energy Market Authority’s (EMA) director of market development Jesse Chin told The Business Times that 39 per cent of household accounts were on retail contracts as at Jul 1, compared with 48 per cent in 2021, some two years after Singapore’s liberalisation of the power sector under the Open Electricity Market (OEM) went full throttle nationwide.

Singapore’s switch rate in the electricity retail market has fallen from its peak. This is not least because the lure of up to 30 per cent in power-bill savings – which in the early years drove consumers to ditch SP – has diminished, and rates have become less competitive since the energy crisis two years ago.