ARREARS IN UTILITIES BILLS AND PAY-AS-YOU-USE METERING SCHEME

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ARREARS IN UTILITIES BILLS AND PAY-AS-YOU-USE METERING SCHEME: 7.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how many households in Singapore are in arrears of their utilities bill; (b) what is the average bill size; (c) how many Singaporeans had the pay-as-you-use electricity metering scheme installed in their homes after this scheme was introduced; and (d) how many continue to

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have their utilities cut off despite the installation of this meter.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as of end July 2005, 7,340 utility accounts are in arrears, or 0.68% of the total number of accounts.

The average utilities bill size varies based on the consumption for different household sizes. For June 2005, the average utilities bill varies from $48 for a HDB 1-room flat to $142 for a HDB 5-room flat.

The Pay-As-You-Use scheme, or PAYU, was launched by SP Services in May this year to help HDB households whose electricity supply has been disconnected due to arrears. It enables such households to have their supply reconnected, while allowing them to settle their arrears over time. As of end July, 1,054 households in arrears have joined the PAYU metering scheme.

With pre-paid meters, PAYU customers can check their credit balance and better manage their electricity consumption. There is an emergency credit of $3 that they can tap into when the credit falls below $1. This allows the customer time to top up his credit and avoid disruption in electricity supply.

On the number of PAYU customers who get their electricity supply cut off despite having PAYU, I am afraid this information is not readily available, as it depends on whether and when PAYU customers top up the necessary credit in their cards.