Additional electricity contracts for businesses as new scheme fully subscribed for January, February
SINGAPORE: As part of efforts to cushion businesses from "unprecedented volatility" in the electricity market, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has worked with generation companies (gencos) and electricity retailers to offer additional electricity contracts.
The agency noted on Friday (Jan 28) that the Temporary Electricity Contracting Support Scheme (TREC) - which allows gencos to draw on EMA’s standby fuel facility to generate electricity - has been fully subscribed for January and February this year.
"The volatile gas and electricity prices and the risk of PNG (piped natural gas) supply disruptions have limited electricity retailers’ ability to offer fixed price contracts to consumers," it said.
EMA noted it had received feedback that some consumers were facing "difficulties in renewing their contracts or obtaining new contracts", especially for the first quarter of this year.
In response to requests for more contracts, EMA said it worked with the gencos and retailers on the following contracts.
For those with an average monthly consumption of between 4 MWh and 8 MWh, Sembcorp Power is offering additional one-month fixed price plans to consumers at "preferred prices".
Larger consumers can approach Sembcorp Power, Senoko Energy, Geneco (by Seraya Energy) and PacificLight Energy for contracts with a significant fixed price component.
"In total, the above retailers will be offering about double the TRECS capacity offered in January 2022," said EMA, adding this is expected to meet the demand of "most consumers".
The agency noted it had also implemented other measures to secure Singapore's electricity supply, such as directing gencos to maintain sufficient fuel for power generation until end-March.
It has also introduced a framework to require gencos to manage their gas demand, in light of factors likely to expect Singapore's PNG supply such as "ongoing upstream production issues" in Indonesia’s West Natuna gas fields and low gas landing pressure from South Sumatra.
"To maintain power system security and reliability, EMA has also put in place a framework to direct gencos to generate electricity using the gas from the SLF (standby LNG facility) pre-emptively, if there are potential shortages in energy supply in the SWEM (Singapore Wholesale Electricity Market)," it said, noting this had been introduced to deal with electricity supply shortfalls in January this year.
"EMA will review if these measures are still needed by Mar 31, 2022," the agency said, adding it was committed to "ensuring that Singapore's power supply remains secure and reliable".
"We will continue to monitor market developments and review or introduce further measures if necessary. At the same time, all consumers are encouraged to do their part to conserve energy where possible," it added.
