water + electricity bill

cant stand them, SO EXPENSIVE!!!

who buy EXPENSIVE OIL huh???

aiyoyo……

Today its at least S$1.60.

If in Malaysia, the non-subsidized price is RM2 or S$0.85

Why is there this US$0.75 difference. So, we tax higher, land cost is higher, etc, etc.

Is it justified to charge S$0.75/liter more?

And now, they are talking about dipping into our reserves to get through the recession. Have they not taxed us enough, directly and indirectly, without needing to do this?

from electicity, water, HDB conservation fee, HDB carparks, ERP, general grocery, medication, childcare fee, primary & secondary school fee (including hidden school fee for ECA), TV licenses (mind u its $110 even you do not watch the contents they provide), public transport – mrt & buses, elderly care (mind u they now introduce voluntary AMD and future mandatory AMD so they can legally killed you when you are old & jobless and deem to not having contribute to CPF & income tax) … etc etc

This is blatant profiteering (daylight robbery, if you were to ask for a layman’s term) of each and every person here.

1. Hikes of so many items, eg electric company, tel co, news paper
2. TC investment
3. mini bon bons
4. oil price down , electricity up by whopper burger size

singaporeans will continue to accept in terms of letting it be as they believe they can do absolutely nothing about it but to accept?

YES / NO ?

If so,
Is singaporeans more unique than any other country people ?

YES / NO ?

If so,
since this is what the people ACCEPT,
why should we be still talking and discussing about all these ?

last but not least,
Why do you think people quit this place?

So, lets not even discuss anything else until we answer all the above questions and recognise what is the REALity. And the REALity of Alternative leaders.

Oil price has dropped to less than US$60/bbl, but People’s disposable income has also dropped too. Oil is still not cheap. Oil is still a lot more expensive than it was at the beginning of the boom period in 2001 at US$20/bbl.

is that efficiency – pap style?!

i wonder if there are similar types of “middle-men” in other sectors.

1) I agree SP seems to be shaving off the cream of electricity earnings. Their cut currently is about 5 cents FIXED out of the 30 cents VARIABLE tariff which is bechmarked on peak oil orice of over US$140/barrel. They proudly proclaim that that’s only 17% of the total tariff, implying that the cut is not high and hence reasonable. But when the tariff is reduced in due course based on oil price which has fallen by more than 50%, SP’s cut willstill remain at a fixed 5 cents. But then that will translate to huge 34% or more!! That’s too much just for delivering.

2) SP justifies that they deserve to fair returns for the effort, using measure like Return on Assets. SP has been in the business for decades and a substantial part of its distribution network must have been recovered many time over. I wonder if these assets are still factored in its ROA computation because if they do then their 6% ROA rate is under-stated and hence they are actually earning a much higher ROA. We must also be aware that the bulk of SP’s operating cost in distributing electricity is FIXED. So as volume grows which has been the case for decades, as reflected by our GDP growth, per unit cost of distribution will logically fall. SP claims that their charges have reduced by about 20+% over the last 5 years, the question is whether that is enough relative to actual costs. Maybe the answer is “no” and that’s why we see SP making huge profits.

3) I think the high amount of SP’s non-operating earnings come from the transfer-sale of the gencos to private buyers through Temasek. I wonder how much extra profits they were able to cream off from these sales and how much these were attributed to higher valuatiion of the gencos attributed to high tariff pricing mechanism and the resulting higher revenue in past years. This is linked to your question about the timing of the change in pricing mechanism. If this is how it is, the implication is that consumers are overcharged to yield higher profits to yield higher valuations to yield higher profits from sale of gencos. That means we the consumers paid to give SP and Temasek the higher profits. But a question of greater concern is that how long more are the gencos assured under the sale terms to continue to lock consumers to this unfair electircity pricing mechanism and benchmarks. If this is not corrected, we may be paying lower tariff come next year just because of falling fuel oil prices. But the over-charging mechanism remains which means we will still be paying unfair and relatively high prices for as long as the gencos are promised.

It all boils down to a lack of check and balance for those in power and a politically apathetic population that lives in a climate of fear and paralysis.

We are already conditioned to accept such unfair treatment on it’s population. We are helpless nevertheless and feel hopeless. “What to do? They are always right,” is the ready reply from many whom I spoke to. Their melancholic expression bertrayed their brave acceptance of such nonsense.

I think it is time to:

1. Fuel up the new movement of civil consciousness among our population. We are too detached from the country’s woes for our own liking. The main issue is also the lack of a centralised body or leader to spearhead such activities. TOC in all likelihood should be able to fill up this big vacuum. The govt has enjoyed 43 years of monopolistic power and will not give up without a fight. There may be blood here.

2. Protest in unity at HLP regularly at seemingly unpopular and unfair insititutional practices e.g. tariff increase, transport increase, etc. Such open regular protest will not only attract a nation’s attention but also attract those who are fearful to come up and be counted. Hopefully, this will attract swing votes sympathetic to the cause.

3. Those who do not have to vote for uncontested wards should go over to those that are having a close fight to foster national attention. Support those who are standing for election to send a signal that they country is ready for a change. We do not have to sit at home and fret over the fact that we don’t have to vote. We can still support other wards in their battle.

4. Constantly remind ourselves that enough is enough. Do we want ourselves, our children and out children’s children to be subjected to such atrocious governance? The answer is obvious.

5. Branding of the opposition politics – there is a lack of marketing for opposition politics in SIngapore here. We are too brainwashed to think of our opposition camp as useless, troublemaker and dissent. They have to re invert themselves to attarct people not only to stand up for election but to vote for them. They need a complete remaking and alot of marketing to attract votes.

Unless we act Singapore will be like this for the next few years, decades and centuries. The country’s destiny is on some of our hands and perhaps we are the ones to be called. Many are called but few are chosen!

There is just no Check and Balance…… We just give them our Cheques and we live on the Balance under one party rule.

What ways to help companies reduce costs? Didn’t the recent increase just up their operating expense for utilities by 22%? And translating that, business cost went up..and for starters, coffee shops have to charge more, and in cycle goes on, the business cost gets passed to us, the ordinary people on the street.

So, I say this greed must be removed in order to make Singapore a more liveable place.

Yes, that is right. As Singaporeans have already given up their rights to the best of best Elites called MIWs. When the MIWs think that the way to do things is right, who are the citizens to say anything? After all, once in a while the MIW gives out money on a yearly basis. So what if they treat our CPF as their piggybank. They are spending it for our benefit. So Singaporean’s should shut up and let the FTs enjoy our wonderful country. The FTs are saving our jobs and country and we have to welcome them and get our sons to serve NS/Reservist to protect their interest. If some of our sons die during training, it is a small sacrifice for our wonderful way of life. Way to go Singapore!! Other countries are learning about our great system and how to create a docile society. This makes the job of the politicians so much easy unlike Asia countries like HK, Taiwan & South Korea.

I dream of serving the people also. I love these singaporeans.

do usa, uk, europe, aus, nz, my, th, hk, tw envy sg?

no idea.