Union Power Review: Electricity Plans, Rates, and Referral Code (2022)

Each time you turn on the lights, you’re bleeding money. That’s because electricity prices is at a high of $0.2974/kWh from October to December 2022.

Out of all the 9 electricity retailers available in Singapore, Union Power is probably the best known. If the name sounds familiar to you, that might be because it’s the electricity sibling of the gas cylinder brand, Union Gas.

Union’s gas cylinders are pretty affordable at $33/12.7kg and they are one of the most popular household brands, but it turns out that their residential electricity plans are actually quite expensive.

Union Power actually announced in October 2021 that they would be scaling down their electricity retail business in Singapore due to volatility in the global energy market. This came after a whole bunch of electricity retailers including iSwitch, Ohm Energy, BEST Energy, and green energy retailer ES Power left the market.

So far, 850 businesses tied to Union Power have been transferred back to SP Group, a move which does not affect residential clients. But as of now, Union Power is still in operation and has not exited the Open Electricity Market. But just bear in mind that it might happen one day.

Contents

1. 1. 1. What is Union Power?
      2. Union Power Review
      3. Union Power Fees
      4. Union Power Electricity Plans
      5. Union Power Solar Panels
      6. Union Power Green Electricity
      7. Union Power Discount Off Tariff Plans
      8. Union Power Promotions
      9. Union Power Referral Code

1. What is Union Power?

Union Power is an energy retailer licensed by the Energy Market Authority (EMA). They sell electricity via the open electricity market in Singapore.

Union Power is wholly owned by Union Energy Corporation, which is part of Union Energy Group and offers both electricity and solar power.

You can invest in the gas arm via Union Gas Holdings Limited (ticker UNION:SP), which is currently trading on SGX for $0.70 per share.

2. Union Power Review

Here’s a quick overview of Union Power’s available plans.

Union Power Electricity Plans	Price (including GST)	Contract Duration
Union Saver 6 (Residential)	$0.4815/kWh	6 months
Fixed Rate (Business)	Upon enquiry	12 months
Discount Off Tariff (Business)	Upon enquiry	12 or 24 months

As you can see, there is only one residential plan (Union Saver 6), with a duration of 6 months.

There are two business plans, including a 12-month fixed rate plan and a discount off tariff plan.

3. Union Power Fees and Charges

Union Power Fees and Charges	Fees
Registration Fee	Waived
Security Deposit	–
Late Payment Charge	1% of outstanding balance
Early Termination Charge	HDB 1-room: $180 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $60 (remaining duration < 3 months) HDB 2-room: $210 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $70 (remaining duration < 3 months) HDB 3-room: $270 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $90 (remaining duration < 3 months) HDB 4-room: $300 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $100 (remaining duration < 3 months) HDB 5-room/EC: $360 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $120 (remaining duration < 3 months) Condo: $600 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $200 (remaining duration < 3 months) Landed property: $1,020 (remaining duration > 3 months) / $340 (remaining duration < 3 months)
GIRO/Credit Card Auto Payment Failure Fee	GIRO: $1.07 Credit/debit card: $5.35 Physical paper billing: $1.07

Union Power’s early termination charges are horribly high. So this is not a company you want to sign up with on a whim.

Make sure you compare electricity charges across the various retailers and only sign up if you’ve done your homework and you’re sure you want to stay with Union Power for 6 full months.

4. Union Power Electricity Plans

Here’s a more in-depth look at Union Power’s only residential plan.

Union Power Electricity Plan	Price	Contract Duration
Union Saver 6 (Residential)	$0.4815/kWh	6 months

So, how does residential plan Union Power 6 compare to other mainstream electricity plans?

Well, considering everybody gets the same electricity from the Singapore Power Grid, Union Power’s plan is eye-poppingly expensive compared to the cheapest electricity rates of $0.3112/kWh by Geneco.

5. Union Power Solar Panels

Union Power also has a solar arm, Union Solar, that provides and installs solar panels on your building or rooftop.

At the moment, they only have business plans, so individuals who live in landed property will have to look elsewhere to have their solar panels installed.

Panel installation via Union Power is free and they will take care of all maintenance. You’ll be able to consume green energy directly at the location of the solar panels.

You’ll still have to sign up for a plan, though, but you still save money as you’ll be offered a low long-term tariff for the solar energy you consume.

6. Union Power Green Electricity

Although Union Power offers solar panel installation and plans for businesses, it is not currently offering solar electricity plans for residences.

As a household, the only electricity you can get from Union Power comes from the same old Singapore Power Grid that almost everyone else uses. That is, most of it comes from the burning of natural gas, which while not as bad as most other fossil fuels is not exactly green.

If that gives you climate change nightmares, there are some green electricity retailers offering 100% solar energy and carbon neutral electricity plans, including Senoko, Sembcorp Power, Sunseap, Keppel Electric, and Pacific Light.

7. Union Power Discount Off Tariff Plans

Sadly, Union Power currently does not offer any discount off tariff plans.

Such plans used to be all the range back when the Open Electricity Market was a new thing and all the retailers were trying to persuade people to make the switch from Singapore Power. In 2019, you could get discounts of 20% to 25% through discount off tariff plans.

If you really want a discount off tariff plan, we’re sorry. There are no discount off tariff plans available on the entire OEM right now. The last one was called Senoko LifeSaver, a 12-month contract that gave you 3% discount off the SP tariff, which phased out in Q2 2022.

8. Union Power Promotion

Union Power used to offer lots of promotions. But tough luck, they’re all expired now.

Here are five of the most recent Union Power promotions, all expired.

Union Power Promo Code	Promotion	Expiry
CITIUP15 or CITIUP 30	Up to $40 bill rebate with Citi credit card	31 Dec 2021
HSBC20 or HSBC35	Up to $45 bill rebate with HSBC credit card	31 Dec 2021
REJOICE20	$20 rebate on electricity bill	31 Dec 2021
ENJOY10	$10 rebate on electricity bill	31 Dec 2021
ENJOY20	$20 rebate on electricity bill	31 Oct 2021

So, what about now? Sorry, there are no ongoing promotions for Union Power. Shucks.

If you really want a promo, Pacific Light has some of the best electricity retailer promotions at the moment, with up to $80 in discounts up for grabs.

9. Union Power Referral Code

Most electricity retailers have referral programmes which run indefinitely, but Union Power’s referral programme expired on 14 Nov 2021.

While it was on, you would get a referral code when you signed up. You could then get your friends to sign up with your code, and both of you would get 3,000 rewards points, equivalent to $30.

Let’s hope Union Power decides to bring back the referral programme. Otherwise, on account of their high tariffs, we can’t really think of a good reason to sign up with them right now.

Thinking if you should switch from Singapore Power (SP) to an electricity retailer? Read on!