Almost half of 1.4 million households have switched to Open Electricity Market retailer: Energy Market Authority
A view of HDB flats at night. (File photo: Xabryna Kek)
SINGAPORE: Almost half of 1.4 million households in Singapore have switched to buying electricity from a retailer, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on Thursday (Nov 26).
Since the nationwide rollout of the Open Electricity Market (OEM) two years ago, about 48 per cent of all households have switched to a retailer as of end-October, said the authority in a media release.
This compares with about 40 per cent at end-August last year.Â
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As of Oct 31, Keppel Electric has the largest share of residential consumers at 23.4 per cent, followed by Geneco with a 21.0 per cent.
iSwitch, Tuas Power and Sembcorp Power are the next biggest retailers with 13.4 per cent, 13.0 per cent and 9.0 per cent.
The other seven retailers, which have a combined market share of 20.2 per cent, are: Best Electricity, Diamond Electric, PacificLight Energy, Ohm Energy, Senoko Energy, Sunseap Energy and Union Power.
The zonal rollout of the OEM started in November 2018. By May the following year, all consumers were able to switch to a retailer if they wished to.
As most consumers signed two-year contracts since the start of the OEM, many would have started to receive notifications from their retailer regarding supply arrangements after their contract ends, said EMA.
Retailers must notify their customers at least 10 business days before the end of their contract.
The authority reminded consumers to look out for such notifications from their retailers.
CONSUMER SATISFACTION SURVEY
Nine out of 10 customers who have switched to buying electricity from a retailer were “satisfied” with the service provided by their retailers, according to a consumer satisfaction survey conducted by EMA on an ongoing basis to “gauge the service performance” of the OEM retailers.
The latest survey, which polled more than 7,000 households, showed that the two main reasons for respondents renewing with their retailer were attractive price plans (53 per cent) and satisfactory service provided during the previous contract (57 per cent).
The survey was based on 5,700 responses from residential consumers who switched to an electricity retailer from November 2019 to May 2020, and 1,600 residential consumers who renewed with their retailer from January 2020 to June 2020.
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About half of the 1,600 respondents who renewed their contract with their retailer between January and June this year have compared price plans with other retailers before doing so.
"It is important for consumers to compare retailers’ price plans and their ratings when signing up or renewing their contract,” said EMA chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun.
Consumers should visit the OEM website to compare the standard price plans from all OEM retailers, he added.
Retailers were also rated based on its customers’ responses to the consumer satisfaction survey.
Diamond Energy Merchants, which retails electricity under the Diamond Electric brand name, topped the chart with the maximum score of five stars, while Keppel Electric and Geneco occupied the bottom two positions with 3.5 stars each.
Ohm Energy, Senoko Energy, Tuas Power Supply, and Union Power received 4.5 stars each, while Best Electricity Supply, iSwitch, PacificLight Energy, Sembcorp Power and Sunseap Energy received four stars each.
Four of the 12 retailers improved their ratings, namely Best Electricity, PacificLight Energy, Senoko Energy and Sunseap Energy.
