'Should I pay?' Sembcorp customer shocked by $1,000 electricity bill

Despite various electricity providers' warnings of a possible post-circuit breaker spike in electricity bills, one Sembcorp Power customer was shocked when he was hit with a staggering $1,016.39 bill for the month of July.

Sharing photos of his bill on Facebook group Complaint Singapore on Tuesday (Aug 25), Chai See Yin disputed the amount, pointing out that his bill for July alone was higher than his combined electricity bill for the entire year.

Part of a three-person household living in a two-room flat, his previous monthly bills ranged from $27.89 in November 2019 to $74.68 in July 2019.

Other netizens using various electricity providers also chimed in, sharing that they too had experienced increases in their electricity bills recently.

In response to AsiaOne's queries, Sembcorp Industries' Head of Consumer Business (Singapore) Valerie Lee said Sembcorp Power's standard operating procedure in cases such as Chai's is to verify the household's readings against its billings with SP Group, which does all on-site meter readings regardless of the household's electricity provider.

Lee also explained the reason behind the spike in electricity bills observed by some customers.

"On the whole, household electricity consumption could have possibly increased during the circuit breaker period where a majority of the population were required to be home-bound.

"Other factors such as warmer weather during this period also contributed to an increase in consumption based on more usage of fans or air-conditioners at home."

Additionally, SP Group suspended its meter reading service in April due to the Covid-19 situation, Lee said.

As such, household electricity bills during this time and subsequent months were estimated based on the individual household's previous consumption data.

"With the resumption of on-site meter readings by SP Group since June using cumulative meters, certain households would have received higher bills due to the differences in their eventual electricity consumption."

Since then, Sembcorp Power has been proactively communicating this implication to its customers across various channels, Lee added.

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kimberlylim@asiaone.com