Last Thursday (October 14), homegrown electricity retailer iSwitch announced that it will be ceasing operations on November 11, citing “current electricity market conditions”.
Subsequently, another electricity retailer Ohm Energy also announced its exit with effect from October 15.
“Over the past few months, we have seen a volatile electricity market that has made the pricing of our plans at lower than Regulated Tariff unsustainable,” said the company in a statement.
According to Ohm’s website, its residential plans offered electricity at a fixed rate, which is priced as low as S$0.2194/kWh (including GST) for its Simply Ohm plan.
In contrast, the regulated tariff rate that SP Group charges customers is set at S$0.2580/kWh (including GST) for October 1 to December 31. This is about 17.5 per cent higher than the rate offered by the Simply Ohm plan.
“We are aware that your contract is at a lower value than the current regulated tariff. While not a requirement on our part, but as a token of our appreciation for your support, we would like to present you with an ex-gratia payment, which you can expect on your final bill with us,” added Ohm.
This ex-gratia payment is based on the estimated consumption of customers’ remaining contract period with them, and the difference in pricing between the current contract and a reasonable estimate of the prevailing market rate.
Currently, Ohm Energy is working with the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and SP Group to ensure a smooth transfer of all its existing customers to SP Group.
It assures that it will continue to serve its valued customers until they have been transferred back to SP Group. In the meantime, customers will not experience any disruption to their electric supply.
Those who would like to switch to other electricity retailers can do once their account has been transferred to SP Group.
Separately, other electricity retailers are also in danger of shutting down. According to Reuters, Diamond Electric and Best Electricity Supply have stopped accepting new customers, with Diamond Electric in the process of handing over existing term contracts to SP Group.
Open Electricity Market, a website that lets Singapore residents choose an energy supplier, currently shows only eight out of the 12 existing retailers offering plans for consumers.
Featured Image Credit: Kaodim / Ohm Energy