Measures to safeguard SG energy security extended until 30 June: EMA

This is on the back of the global energy crunch and Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The measures to safeguard Singapore’s energy security and resilience are extended until 30 June 2022 in light of the global energy crunch as well as the Ukraine-Russia unrest, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) declared.

In a statement, EMA said it will oversee the situation and consider extending the measures anew if needed, which will also depend on the impact of the global energy situation on the Lion City.

Since October last year, EMA has enforced  a set of measures to secure Singapore’s energy supply and ensure the orderly functioning of the wider energy sector.

Here are the measures:

a. Established a Standby LNG facility (SLF), which generation companies (gencos) can draw from to generate electricity when their natural gas supplies are disrupted.

b. Directed gencos to maintain sufficient fuel for power generation, based on their available generation capacity for power generation. This is in addition to the existing requirement of having fuel reserves that gencos are required to maintain under their licences.

c. Modified Market Rules to enable EMA to direct gencos to generate electricity using the gas from the SLF preemptively, if there are potential shortages in energy supply in the SWEM, to maintain power system security and reliability.

The following measures helped ensure enough fuel and electricity supply and stabilised the Uniform Singapore Energy Price (USEP) to around the cost of electricity production, which is an average of $350 per megawatt-hour in the first quarter of 2022, compared to an average of $460 per megawatt-hour in the fourth quarter of 2021. 

EMA said in the next months, further increases in fuel prices may raise the price of electricity production and USEP.

Since January 2022, EMA worked with electricity retailers and gencos to aid large consumers to secure fixed price plans and retail contracts with significant fixed price components through the Temporary Electricity Contracting Support Scheme (TRECS). 

EMA has also coordinated with Sembcorp Power and Keppel Electric to offer long-term fixed price plans for business consumers with an average monthly consumption from four megawatt-hours (MWh) to 50MWh. 

These plans range from six months to three years, with the fixed electricity rate for two- and three-year plans valued at 25¢/kWh, excluding third-party charges such as transmission charges and market charges. Eligible consumers who wish to have greater price certainty can consider signing up for these fixed-price plans.

With the protracted global energy crunch, EMA will prolong all measures in para 4 and TRECS, including contracts with significant fixed price components, until the end of June 2022. EMA will monitor the situation and consider extending the measures further or introducing new measures if necessary.

To support consumers, the government introduced a household support package as part of Budget 2022. This package will help eligible households – which will receive double the quantum of their quarterly U-Save vouchers in 2022 – cover the costs of higher electricity bills. 

Businesses that need financing support can tap into loan programmes offered by Enterprise Singapore.

EMA also warned that the energy market is being tested by the volatility in global energy markets. Despite this, EMA vowed to ensure that Singapore’s power supply remains secure and reliable and to support consumers through this period.