Energy is the next personalised service

By Charlene Chin

Singapore trials smart meters for remote reading.

Electricity retailers in Singapore are going to customise energy plans for citizens, based on their living habits. Electricity tariffs will vary throughout the day, with prices the lowest at night.

There will also be packages that allow partial reliance on solar power for environmentally-conscious consumers. Residents will be able to pick the option that best suits them by signing up for trial plans.

Electricity retailers’ move to customise their services come after the Energy Market Authority’s (EMA) announcement open up the electricity retail market to competition in the second half of 2018.

Currently there is monopoly service provision by SP Services. EMA is also piloting a smart meter trial that will allow the organisations to track consumption remotely without meter readers.

Equally, it will allow customers to have real time information on their energy and water usage. The service will be accessed through an app, where residents can use their phones to track and plan their utility consumption.

The pilot is a collaboration between the EMA, Singapore’s National Water Agency (PUB) and Singapore Power.

“Such technologies will enable us to give our customers timely consumption data and alerts to better monitor their usage and more importantly, remind them to conserve and use water wisely”, said Michael Toh, PUB Director for Water Supply Network.

In August, SP Services - a subsidiary of Singapore Powers - redesigned its utility bill so that residents could track their utility consumption and habits easily.

“We designed the bill to help customers adopt more energy-and water-efficient habits. At a glance, they can clearly see their charges, consumption for the past five months and compare it with their efficient neighbours as well as the national average”, Chuah Kee Heng, Managing Director of SP services said.