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Electricity Bills Increasing from 1 April: 8 Topics S’poreans Are Talking About Today (30 Mar)

2018-03-30 , 10:22 am

It’s Good Friday today, but it might not be a good Friday for some because one of our bills might be increasing soon: yesterday, it was announced that for the next three months, electricity tariffs would increase by 2.8%.

But it’s okay since it’ll start from 1 April 2018, so we can still hope that it’s an April Fool’s Joke (though we’re acutely aware that SP Group doesn’t joke about something like this).

Here are the eight news that are going to make people in Singapore kaypoh-ing about during lunch today, and yeah, once again, there’s going to be not one but two topics about the Uber-Grab merger (because why not).

Your Electricity Bills Are Going to Increase in the Next 3 Months

I know what you’re thinking: AGAIN!?

Well, my friend, I’m afraid it’s as real as Justin Bieber’s hair.

What you might not know is that the prices change every three months: in the first three months of 2018, the price is at 21.56 cents per kWh.

From 1 April 2018 onwards, it will be at 22.15 cents per kWh, which is about an increase of 2.8%.

A four-room HDB flat will therefore see an average of about $1.86 increase in their monthly electricity bills.

Reason for the increase? There is a higher cost of producing electricity.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) set the guideline on any increase by providers like SP Group.

Of course, this news come when both StarHub and M1 decided to sell electricity as well, primarily to people in Jurong. However, they have not disclosed their pricing.

Now that the Uber vs Grab war is over, perhaps the next business war is between SP Group and telcos #justsaying

Workers Tried to Improvise & Shit Hit the Fan

Yesterday afternoon, as people counted down to the last few minutes of their workweek and looked forward to the long weekend, this video surfaced and it has since got viral, garnering well over 4.8K Shares in less than 14 hours.

In the video, a group of workers, for some reason, tried to lift a forklift out of a lorry by moving the lorry instead.

100 points for creativity, but creativity isn’t going to make the cut because this happened

It is unknown whether this happened in Singapore or Malaysia, but judging from the familiar yellow “Loading and Unloading Only”, it most likely is in Singapore

You can watch the entire video here.

If their boss has watched the below video instead, this might not have happened.

(Since you’re here, subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more informative videos lah)

As of now, details of the video is still unclear, though I’m very sure this reminds us NSmen of what we often did during our NS days (taking shortcuts and then signing extras), no?

Han Hui Hui Removed from Select Committee hearing for Disrupting It

In recent days, our Facebook newsfeed has been filled with the Select Committee hearing on deliberate online falsehoods in Singapore, and news of them have been pretty eventful.

From the grilling of a Facebook executive to a 5-min answer after waiting for hours, Mothership.sg has cleverly picked up the humourous aspects of the hearing despite its seriousness.

But this takes the cake. And it’s not funny.

Blogger and activist Han Hui Hui, who also ran for the General Elections as an independent candidate in 2015, was removed from the hearing.

And the reason? She was holding on to a stack of paper with a printed book cover and showing it. Let’s just say the book is trying to convey a message.

That’s like making a stand while sitting down.

Someone who attended the hearing allegedly said that once she sat down, she started to hold it up.

When told to leave the room, she refused, insisting that she was merely writing down notes. Soon, she was removed and a break was called.

Channel NewsAsia has a short video about this:

By the way, the Select Committee ended yesterday (29 March), so there won’t be such an incident again.

And hopefully, there won’t be any more online fake news—or to be more specific, deliberate online falsehood (stop telling me that NTUC FairPrice’s rice is made of plastic!).

Man Who Sell Fruits without Licence Hit & Head-butt NEA Officer

Do you know that you need a licence to sell fruits in public?

I didn’t. But now I know. And I also know that NEA officers would conduct spot checks on illegal fruit seller.

Like this 61-year-old man.

Last year on 19 June, the man was spotted by two NEA officers for selling fruits near Macpherson MRT Station. The NEA asked the man, Wong Kit Moy, if he had a licence to sell fruits there. He said he did not, and when the officers requested for his particulars, he ran away.

The NEA officers caught up but instead of surrendering, Wong hit and head-butted one of them.

Soon, the police caught up with Wong. He was sentenced to 20 weeks’ imprisonment for the assault and the charge for illegal hawking is still pending.

NEA has this to say: “NEA seeks the cooperation of members of the public as our officers discharge their duties to uphold public health standards and social norms that ensure we continue to enjoy a clean and liveable environment.”

Smokers who always throw their cigarette butts to the ground (and kena caught by NEA officers): you hear that?

NUS Professor think that the concept of Uber-Grab Merger leading to monopolistic prices is “flawed”

It’s reasonable to think that Grab’s pricing is going to skyrocket after the Uber-Grab merger. In fact, it’s common sense.

But one professor disagreed. Well, kind of.

And you can expect it to go viral.

In a commentary that’s argued like a GP paper yet with scholarly paper language (my opinion lah), the professor argued that this thinking is flawed because right from the start, the prices were not a good representation of the “correct” prices.

Because think of it this way: Grab and Uber are burning money like crazy every hour, and that can’t last forever. The prices we have now are merely discounted and eventually, it will go up to the “normal” price–we might just be used to to the status quo.

So it’s flawed.

(I hope I’ve interpreted the argument correctly)

Allow me to explain in plain low-SES England: last time cheap, we get used to it so now if prices increase back to normal, we buay song.

Channel NewsAsia should pay me to write for them seh.

Someone Found A Domestic Worker’s Schedule & It’s Packed Like a BMT Recruit’s Schedule

Someone found this in a library and shared it with Mothership.sg.

Now, this is a schedule of a domestic helper in Singapore, and you’ll either pity the worker or feel “meh” after seeing it (I hope it’s the latter).

If you were to go through the timetable, you’ll see that the domestic helper starts work at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 10:30 p.m. The only official breaks are a 30-min break between 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and another one between 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., depending on whether work is done.

Worse still, she would have to check the kid at 1:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. to put on or remove his blanket.

Not sure what you’re thinking, but this comment sums it up aptly:

Oh, in other words, it’s not the same as a BMT recruit then: although the wake-up timing and lights-out timing are the same, BMT recruits have seven hours of uninterrupted sleep.

But not Ms Janila.

Chew Eng Heng Now Charged for his Attempt to Flee Singapore

Remember Chew Eng Heng’s epic failed escape?

Well, he’s now charged with one count of attempting to defeat the course of justice (chim seh) and could face up to 3.5 years of jail and / or a fine.

Chew has been serving his sentence of three years and four months for his involvement in the CHC case.

His case would be read on 3 May 2018, and let’s just say that he must be hoping that he hasn’t tried to…defeat the course of justice.

ComfortDelGro’s Purchase of Uber Car Rental Assets in December 2017 Might be Renegotiated

Imagine this: someone told you to buy a house because it’s good and there’s a tenant in there for years to come. You bought it as an investment and soon, a few months later, the tenant left, and you’re left with an empty house.

Well, something like this happened. Sort of.

Last year, ComfortDelGro announced that they had bought 51% of Uber’s car rental fleet, Lion City Holdings, for $642 million. UberFlash was born and everyone thought the fight was between Uber + ComfortDelGro VS Grab + Other Taxis.

Then, Uber went over to Grab.

But it seems like the deal might be renegotiated.

According to an analyst, since Lion City Holdings drivers can now only drive for Grab, ComfortDelGro could fight for a better price. In fact, the report also stated that ComfortDelGro could even opt not to go with the deal.

Lion City Holdings has been closed since the announcement of the Grab-Uber merger, and has been quiet since then.

But I’m pretty sure when it comes to receiving rentals, they shouldn’t be quiet lah #justsaying

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com