10/10/2008
Singapore power tariffs higher than the US or France
This the heading of a letter to ST forum by Bruno Serrien. He is asking if the power provider has done enough or their best to protect consumers from paying disproportionately high power tariff when they don't have to. So far we have heard that the current formula to price power tariff is the most efficient and equitable. Really?
Spot price of crude oil has fallen to below US$90 and our tariff are still based on pay forward future oil price of US$150! Bruno also pointed out that 80% of our electricity is generated by natural gas instead of oil. So why is the formula simply based on oil price? What portion or percentage is being computed with the natural gas element or is this totally not in the formula?
We need more transparency in this and the full formula to understand how it works and affects us. Are there measures to work out the possibility of buying spot when the difference is too high?
Can the supertalents explain, please.
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19 comments:
That is the reason why the govt has agreed to help Singaporeans with financial assistance. Good for them.
Did you for once think the government will use it's own surplus and SWF to help you tide the recession?
They will tax you, and give you back your money less maybe 10%.
*shurg* still wondering why they are paid millions.
Kaffein
because they are able to keep taking from the people and the people are still happy with them.
just for alone they deserve to be paid more.
That's why they want to privatise the power generating services. Then they will not have to answer questions like this, pushing everything to the privatisation excuse.
Whatever the govt does is OK by me. I am sure they are doing their best. Viva Singapura.
How do you think they can make a profit of more than $1b in 2007?
21 % higher means additional earnings of another $210 million or more becos the prices of oil per barrel had fallen to US82 per barrel.
Old Aunt @ lift said they give me $200 and they take back everything and more... what cannot beat them..
Supertalent gets award and performance bonus @ the expense of ....? ST is a watchdog press or a mouthpiece ?
Redbean and others,
do not be deceived by the government.
Any expert will tell you that there is no such thing as forward future oil price of US$150. Believe it or not, there is no such contract at all (Ask for the contract from the government to verify, I doubt they can produce one that can verified). For one, why should they peak it at $150 at the expense of the citizen ? It doesn't make sense ? How long is the contract ? It shows the government is making supernormal profit at the expense of citizen. Any business graduate can tell you that.
Anon Oct 10, 2008 10:08pm Post sounds logical and reasonable, even factual.
I hope Sigaporeans had not been taken for a ride by our beloved leaders.
patriot
Btw, now that oil is about US$80, can our leaders buy forward huge amount now and bring down the electricity tariff by say 35% few months down the road?
It can be done, right?
patriot
I see, a lot of super talents are answering this article. as for me, give give give.
"Btw, now that oil is about US$80, can our leaders buy forward huge amount now and bring down the electricity tariff by say 35% few months down the road?
It can be done, right?"
That's the beauty of the government's lie, and you can see how the picture fit together.
Since the gov gives such a lie, they have to keep the lie by not doing anything because if they do something to renegotiate the contract, it means the government is lying blatantly and it make you wonder why the government didn't take the step you recommended.
The answer is obvious and clear. There is no such contract at all. It is up to the discretion of the government to reduce the price of oil here, not third party nor world-wide standard.
1) The government cannot produce the contract because there is none at all
2) You can't ask for them nor seek them because these coffers will always say it is confidential.
Notice that the government did not mention the period of the contract to which it is bound, that's alone give away the deception and lies.
A financial expert will always emphasize the period of the contract, in this case, there is none from the government.
Look like gullible Singaporean is in for a very very long ride.
As late president Ong said that there is problem in acounting of Temasek and handling of the reserve. So this has been the case for decades.
let's not run them down by accusing them of lying. i hope if any of the supertalent is reading this, please post the evidence for all to see. if the people has doubts, the doubts will keep spreading. and in no time, tooth can be perceived as truth.
maybe we shall wait for ema to write another reply to the press to clarify this perception. the last reply was not enough.
redbean ,
"please post the evidence for all to see."
We should ask that from government instead. The evidence is in their hand. All along we have been gullible to accept nonsensical reasons and excuses from them without evidence that they have to show. It is time for accountability from them now.
It is not the citizen to show the evidence, it is the government that has to show the evidence. GLC that obtain supernormal profit run by supertalent but yet can't give a proper super-account of the transaction ? Don't anybody think something is seriously amiss ?
Or is it that we can't handle the brutal truth ?
Our friends from Hong Kong always say that we are too dependent on our government. We always expect our government to help us! I think they are right. They didn't have to ask their government but their power tariffs was cut by 3% due to poor market situation. When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, their government stepped in to help them and tried to recover their money. Obviously our government here also tried to help us but by telling us to call the bank customer relation managers, who are more interested in telling you more about their new products than anything else. :-(
When I posted that our leaders buy oil at US$80 now, I have actually treated myself as a moron for the reasons below.
1) That our power generation uses oil and not natural gas(80% according to media reports and informations in the Net.
2) That all oil purchase before the Tariff Hike of 21+% were all bought at US$150, which was unlikely.
However, as oil price had fell to around US$80 per barrel, it is reasonable to suggest to buy oil at the present price to pare down(average) the cost to US$115(150+80divide by 2) supposing equal amount is purchased to match the same amount(barrels) bought at US$150. This will mean that operating cost will be much reduced. As such a corresponding reduction in Power Tariff is not only reasonable, it is a responsible action to take.
patriot
Yeah, we need transparencies and more figures to assure singaporeans that they are not disadvantaged by the aggressive influx of foreigners in a downturn for example. We should not have to guess whether the number of foreigners working on contracts here is 100% or just 1% of the working population.
Oil and gas prices are highly correlated
hi agagooga,
welcome to the blog. agree that the two have high correlation. but there is no need to keep in under the table. just tell the people how it works. it affects everyone's pocket and better to remove the unease.
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