Bad News For People Who Sleep With Aircon On: Electricity Tariffs To Increase By 6.9%


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There are a couple of facts about staying in Singapore.

One, if you’re an NSF, you cannot sit down on the public transport. Or else.

Two, always leave your house early because the MRT might break down, although it’s better this year than the previous one. But just to be safe, y’know.

And three, it’s expensive living here.

Image: memegenerator.net

If you fully agree with all these facts, you know you’re a true-blue Singaporean.

But we still love Singapore lah, because it’s our home, yeah?

So here’s the thing. We’ve just gone through the water hike, and now we’re faced with the possibility of a second one because Malaysia decided that the current selling price of water to Singapore is “ridiculous”.

But before that, another thing is going to increase. Your electricity bill.

Electricity Tariffs Increasing in 3rd Quarter of 2018

If you haven’t heard, your electricity bill is going to go up again.

On 29 June, it was reported that electric tariffs will increase by 1.50 cents per kWh (or 6.9%) with effect from 1 Jul 2018.

Image: Trong Nguyen / Shutterstock.com

It will increase from 22.15 cents to 23.65 cents.

That’s all fine and all, but you got to admit, it’s a bit abstract, like Leonardo Dicaprio’s drawings.

So here’s a simple illustration on how much more it’ll cost

Image: BLACKDAY / Shutterstock.com

Imagine you have an aircon, a good one, that’s 800W (0.8kWh). And you switch it on for 5 hours every day.

So for a 31-day month, the electricity bill (based on the electricity tariff of 22.15 cents) for that particular aircon is:

0.8 x 5 x 31 x 0.2215=$27.46

Now, imagine the same thing, except based on the new electricity tariff of 23.65 cents:


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0.8 x 5 x 31 x 0.2365=$29.32

And that’s for someone who switched on the aircon to cool the room down, before switching it off.

Now imagine, your family has 3 aircon units and they’re switched on through the night, about 10 hours per night.

I guess the difference can be pretty substantial.

By the way, not sleeping with the aircon on isn’t just about saving money. It’s also to save your health.


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Read this insightful article we’ve written that’ll make you stop sleeping in aircon after reading it.

Now, you can take this both ways. 

You can either think, aiya, increase but still manageable, okay lah. Or, you’ll be thinking, wa lau eh, and that’s only one electrical unit. If I add in the rest, how ah?!

But here’s what you should be thinking instead.

Wah, heng ah, I got an energy-efficient refrigerator and inverter aircon. Yeah, this is why you shouldn’t save on buying stuff for your home the first time around.


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An energy-efficient fridge might cost a bit more than a less efficient one, but the savings you’ll get from it, especially in cases like this, will help more than you imagine.

So better learn how to read the Energy Label and know what it’s all about, okay?

Trust me,  I’ve been through this and regretted it.

And the reason for this increase is…*drum roll, please*

Production cost. Yup, production cost has gone up.

According to reports, the price of natural gas has increased, which increases the cost of producing 1 kWh of energy.


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Which is why we have to pay more for our electricity now.

Here’s an agak-ration of how much the new tariff will impact our electricity bills, calculated based on average consumption of a Singapore household:

Image: channelnewsasia.com

By the way, fun fact: electricity has increased by 4.52 cents since 2 years ago. 

Image: straitstimes.com

Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!