880,000 HDB households to receive utilities rebate this month

ABOUT 880,000 Singaporean HDB households will receive the next instalment of the GST Voucher scheme to offset part of their utilities bills this month (Jan), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Tuesday.

Each household will receive a Utilities-Save (U-Save) rebate of up to S$95, or up to S$380 annually, depending on their HDB flat type.

Households in one- and two-room HDB flats will receive S$95, those in three-room flats will receive S$85, and those in four-room flats will get S$75, said MOF.

Families living in five-room flats will get S$65, and those in executive or multi-generation flats will get S$55.

Households whose members own more than one property are not eligible for the rebate, said MOF.

The U-Save rebate is one of three components under the permanent GST Voucher scheme that helps HDB households offset part of their utilities bills, and lowers overall household expenses.

It is distributed every three months and is expected to cost S$265 million over a year, starting from July 2017.

The other two components are in the form of cash, given to lower-income Singaporeans every August, and Medisave top-up for Singaporeans aged 65 and above to support their medical needs.

THE STRAITS TIMES