(June 30): Power bills for households in Singapore will hit a record next quarter as the impact of the US-Iran war feeds through, highlighting the inflationary fallout from the conflict even as regional tensions ease.
The charge will rise 17% to 31.91 Singapore cents (25 US cents) per kilowatt hour for the July-to-September period, grid operator SP Group said in a statement. That tops the peak of 30.17 cents in the third quarter of 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is the highest in data going back to 2014.
Neither of those rates include the additional charge for the city-state’s goods-and-services tax. In 2022, the add-on was levied at 7%; now it is 9%.
Singapore relies largely on imports of natural gas to generate electricity — with liquefied shipments, as well as piped flows — and authorities adjust tariffs by quarter based on prices over the first two-and-a-half months of the prior period. While global prices eased in recent weeks as an interim US-Iran deal allows the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, they were elevated from April to mid-June.
“Changes in global fuel prices take some time to be reflected in the electricity tariffs,” SP Group said. “The situation in the Middle East remains uncertain. Should the situation improve, global fuel prices and correspondingly the electricity tariffs for the fourth quarter of 2026, may decrease.”
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The overall electricity tariff — a category that includes non-households — will increase by 17.5% compared with the previous quarter, SP Group said.
More than one million households living in the public-housing system will receive rebates to help offset utilities expenses, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday in a regular update on payments.
Last year, Singapore bought more than 40% of its LNG from Qatar, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. This year — following disruptions in the Middle East, including in Qatar — the nation has bought enough supply to last through the year-end, with spot shipments secured from regions outside the Persian Gulf, state buyer Singapore GasCo Pte Ltd has said.
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