Compare 8 Best Electricity Price Plans: Open Electricity Market (2024)

Have you ever had parents nagging at you whenever you forgot to switch off the bathroom or toilet light or to switch off the main electricity socket instead of just hitting zero on the fan because electricity is so expensive, yadda yadda? 

Well, they’re not wrong given the price increases for utilities over the years. 

The Open Electricity Market (OEM) launched in 2018 made energy prices slightly more competitive with the introduction of new electricity retailers. Before the OEM, SP Group held a monopoly on electricity retail in Singapore and consumers had no choice but to pay the electricity tariff. 

Now with the OEM, residents can compare as many as 9 electricity retailers are offering about 2 standard pricing models each… which amounts to more than 20 electricity packages to choose from. 

 

A Guide to the Open Electricity Market (OEM) and electricity retailers in Singapore

1. Getting started: How to choose an electricity retailer?
2. Cheapest electricity plans for fixed price plans
3. “Discount off regulated tariff” electricity plans
4. Non-standard electricity plans & promotions 
5. What is the “Transmission Loss Factor”?
6. Best cashback credit cards for electricity bill payments

 

1. Getting started: 3 steps to picking an electricity retailer

Step 1: Choose between a fixed rate plan or a discount on the regulated tariff. Some retailers have non-standard plans as well.

Step 2: Decide how long you want your contract to be—it can be as short as 6 months or as long as 3 years.

Step 3: Finally, compare the prices and choose your preferred power plan.

If you’re already confused, fret not. That’s why we’re here with this electricity retailer guide and a comprehensive comparison of all the current retailers.

There’s also an official OEM comparison tool which lets you easily estimate your electricity bills and compare providers. You just need to input your type of residence, average consumption, and preference for pricing models — fixed or discount off regulated tariff).

Using that calculator, let’s find out which are the cheapest retailers if you have a 4-room HDB flat with an assumed average consumption of 360 kWh / month.

We also have to mention that since the GST rate has increased to 9%, this means the final amount of your electricity bill will be subject to the 9% tax too. 

However, if you are still currently on an existing fixed-price plan, your plan and electricity bill will not be affected until you renew your contract.

 

2. Cheapest electricity retailers for fixed-price plans

For these price plans, you pay a fixed price (calculated per kWh) throughout your contract. This fixed rate remains unaffected by SP’s electricity tariff and is applied to your total electricity consumption (regardless of what time you use it).

In the past, short-term contracts used to be the go-to for the best prices—probably a little nudge to get you to test out these electricity providers. (Geneco even has a plan cheekily named “Give Us A Try.”) 

However, these trial plans are no longer the cheapest. These days, the cheapest electricity prices are the 24-month plans. As of now, only Geneco offers a 6-month fixed-price plan.

Electricity retailer	6 months fixed price plan	Price (¢ per kWh)
Geneco	Give Us A Try	30.16

Most retailers now offer fixed price plans of either 12 or 24-month contracts, which saves you the trouble of looking around and switching around to another contractor after a mere 6 months. But at least you know the price you pay is a fixed rate. 

Electricity retailer	12 months fixed price plan	Price (¢ per kWh)
Geneco	Get It Fixed 12	29.79
Keppel Electric	FIXED12	29.79
Senoko Energy Supply	LifePower 12m	30.07
PacificLight Energy	Savvy Saver 12	30.07
PacificLight Energy	Sunny Side-Up 12m (Green Plan)	30.40
Sembcorp	Fixed Price Home	31.32
Tuas Power Supply	PowerFIX 12	31.48

And the 24-month electricity plans that give the cheapest rates: 

Electricity retailer	24 months fixed price plan	Price (per kWh)
Geneco	Get It Fixed 24	29.53
PacificLight Energy	Savvy Saver 24	29.53
Keppel Electric	FIXED24	29.79
Senoko Energy Supply	LifePower 24m	29.79
Senoko Energy Supply	LifeGreen 24m	30.30
Tuas Power Supply	PowerFIX 24	30.83

Note that these fixed electricity price plans tend to change much more frequently than the other type of electricity plan (discount off tariff), so whoever’s the cheapest electricity retailer now may not be the same the next time. If you want to switch providers, always check the OEM comparison tool beforehand.  

Apart from 12- and 24-month plans, some retailers also offer other contract lengths such as 18 oro 36 months. Check their websites to find out more. 

 

3. Cheapest electricity retailers for “discount off regulated tariff” price plans

This type of plan gives you a fixed discount off SP’s electricity tariff 

For this type of plan, you get a fixed discount off SP’s electricity rate, which is currently $0.2989 per kWh from 1 January to 31 March 2024 — a pretty huge jump compared to last quarter ($0.2870).  

If you opt to go for a retailer on the OEM, you pay a floating rate, subject to the tariff’s quarterly fluctuations. In other words, your bill will always be X% cheaper than if you opted for SP.

If you’re with SP, your bill would be $107.60 per month, based on the same scenario a 4-room HDB flat with an assumed average consumption of 360 kWh/month.

A quick search on the OEM comparison tool yielded NO results! Electricity retailers aren’t even offering discount off tariff plans now. Things are just way too expensive… 

 

4. Other non-standard price plans—“peak & off-peak”, free gifts & more promotions

Some retailers also offer other types of packages other than the standard price plans to cater to different types of consumers who may have different habits. 

One of them is the “peak and off-peak” pricing, which charges different rates for day and night use. So, if you use most of your electricity during off-peak hours, you can enjoy cheaper prices.

There also used to be promos when the OEM first launched, with retailers offering freebies when you signed up. However, all these have since died down. 

At present, retailers that have non-standard price plans are Pacific Light with plans that offer a cheaper rate while you’re sleeping or during a certain period. 

But we’d say that it doesn’t matter. The cheaper prices are already enough incentive for you to make the switch from SP.

 

5. What is the “Transmission Loss Factor”?

When the Open Electricity Market first launched, it was really difficult to find out which electricity plan was the cheapest because some of them were complicated by this troublesome thing called the Transmission Loss Factor.

When power is delivered to your home, a certain percentage of it is “lost”, and different retailers deal with this loss in different ways. Some factored the loss into their rates, while others left it as a surprise for their customers.

However, since November 2018, most retailers have standardised their billing calculations to remain competitive. This means that, for those of us not gifted in Maths, we no longer have to do complicated calculations to figure out exactly how much electricity costs. Yay!

Still, these things are always subject to change, so be kiasu and please double-check your contract to make sure. If you’re not sure about how your preferred retailer calculates your consumption, please give them a call.

Just in case you’re curious, the Transmission Loss Factors can be found on the OEM website.

Singapore’s power is delivered at 230V, i.e. the TLF is 1.016957 currently. There are two forms of electricity billing: Either according to the meter or loss-adjusted billing.

In general, billing according to the metered reading is more straightforward and cheaper than loss-adjusted readings. No hidden charge. You just pay the X price multiplied by your consumption. For example, $0.2743  X 360 kWh = $98.75. That’s it, no need to think.

For loss-adjusted billing, you need to take the TLF and multiply it by your total consumption. So it would instead be $0.2743 X 360 kWh X 1.016957 = $100.42. That’s about $1.67 more!

 

6. Best cashback credit cards for paying your electricity bills

Most electricity retailers make it easy for you to set up a recurring charge to your credit card of choice…but bear in mind that not all credit cards will give you cash rebates for your electricity bills.

For example, some credit card terms and conditions put “recurring payments” and “bill payments” under their list of general exclusions. This can happen even if it’s supposedly a cashback card with no categories or restrictions.

To play it safe, we would recommend credit cards that explicitly mention electricity bills as one of their cashback categories. The following are good options:

If you want an all-purpose credit card, the UOB One card is the one to go for. It gives up to a maximum 5% cash rebate on all spending including recurring telco and electricity bills with a spend of $2,000 per month. There’s also an additional 1% on SP bills, making it effectively 6%. Alternatively, the OCBC 365 card offers 3% on recurring bill payments including telco and utilities. 

 

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