Tampering of Water, Electrical, Gas and E-communication Facilities

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for National Development regarding water, electrical, gas and e-communication facilities at residential blocks (a) whether there have been cases of tampering or sabotage of such facilities in the last three years; (b) what measures does the Ministry have to prevent the tampering of meters situated on the outside of houses; (c) whether the security features for these facilities can be enhanced; and (d) when will internal smart meters that send readings to utilities service providers be installed in all residences.

Mr Lawrence Wong: The Government takes any tampering of water, electrical and gas meters, as well as telecommunications facilities very seriously. Such tampering is an offence under the Public Utilities Act, Electricity Act, Gas Act and Telecommunications Act respectively, with offenders liable for fines, imprisonment, or both. This is backed up by regular checks by Town Councils and Singapore Power to detect potential tampering.

In addition, meters are designed in ways to make tampering difficult, such as through the installation of physical meter seals, or tightly integrating the meter with the pipes. Telecommunications facilities at residential blocks are secured under lock and key.

These measures have been effective. In the last three years, there were about 220 cases of electricity meter tampering at residential premises, which is a small fraction of the 1.5 million utility accounts in Singapore. There were no recorded cases of tampering of gas, water or telecommunications meters/facilities over the same period.

As for smart meters, households will have the option to install smart electricity meters if they sign up for retail packages that offer such meters when the Open Electricity Market is launched later this year. Separately, EMA and PUB are exploring various technical solutions to enable the remote reading of meters. One such study is a joint test-bed conducted by EMA, PUB and Singapore Power Group to explore smart metering for water and town gas. The test-bed is currently scheduled to commence later this year.