RESPITE FOR ELECTRICITY AND WATER CONSUMERS

Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry, at this time of economic difficulties, whether he will advise Power Supply Ltd and the Public Utilities Board not to cut electricity and water supplies to consumers who are in arrears of utility bills but to give them more time to pay up.

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: The concern raised by the Member for Potong Pasir is shared by all of us in this House. My Ministry has been in discussion with Power Supply. Power Supply deals with customers in arrears by giving them what is effectively an extension of time to pay rather than pre-emptorily cutting off their utility supplies. It issues reminders and also visits these households to work out the best way to resolve the outstanding bills.

If a consumer informs Power Supply that he has difficulty paying his bills, Power Supply will advise him to make alternative payment arrangements, usually in the form of instalments. For such consumers, they must pay off at least their current bill. The backpayments may be repaid via an instalment plan. This arrangement helps control the size of the arrears from spiralling out of control. Currently, about 73,000 households are paying their arrears in instalments.

As a commercial company, Power Supply should recover arrears from its defaulting customers. However, they are aware that they should do this in a sensitive way especially from households who have genuine difficulties. For these households, if the need arises, Power Supply will refer them to the Community Development Councils to access the Government's financial assistance schemes.

The CDCs administer a Rent and Utilities Assistance Scheme (RUAS) that offers assistance to households in HDB rental flats who are in need and have difficulties paying their rent and maintenance charges. They also administer an Interim (Short-term) Financial Assistance Scheme (IFAS) to help families in 2 to 4-room HDB flats with temporary grants to meet their subsistence needs, including maintenance charges. In the first half of this year, a total of about $340,000 has been disbursed to more than 600 applicants of the RUAS scheme. In addition, the Government has also extended the Utilities Save scheme for another year, as part of the 2nd off-budget measures to help households to offset their utility bills through a monthly grant for 10 months. The scheme started in July this year, and will last till April 2003.

For households that are facing financial difficulties, they should contact Power Supply to work out a viable repayment plan, so that their bills do not get out of control. For genuine hardship cases, there are Government financial assistance schemes in place to tide families over temporary difficulties. However, households must also do their part to cut consumption and to lighten their own bills. Power Supply's statistics show that about 92% of households with accounts in arrears have electricity and water consumption bills that exceeded the national average for their housing types. Such households will find their bills more manageable if they reduce usage. As part of its education efforts, Power Supply advises these households how to better conserve their electricity and water usage.

Disconnection of utilities supply is a last resort action taken by Power Supply. This can be avoided if households contact Power Supply and jointly work out a viable repayment arrangement.