1. Residential consumers in the Open Electricity Market (OEM) are becoming more discerning when choosing their next electricity plan before their existing contracts expire. Findings from the latest Consumer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) conducted by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) show that fewer consumers are automatically renewing their contracts with their existing retailers. A higher proportion of residential consumers are also comparing offers from different electricity retailers before renewing their contracts.
2. The latest survey shows that respondents who automatically renewed with their retailer fell to 28% from 49% in the previous CSS report in October 2020^[1]. Those who compared offers before renewing with their retailer rose to 61% from 55%, compared to the previous reporting period. This suggests that consumers have become more discerning and are actively searching for better plans instead of opting to automatically renew their existing plan.
3. “We encourage consumers to compare retailers’ price plans and their ratings when signing up or renewing their contract to find an offer that best suits their needs. Consumers can visit the website compare.openelectricitymarket.sg to compare all the standard price plans offered by the retailers,” said Mr Ngiam Shih Chun, Chief Executive of EMA.
4. Since May 2019, all consumers can choose to switch from the default regulated tariff by SP Group to an electricity retailer. As most consumers signed two-year contracts since the start of the OEM^[2], many would have started to receive notifications from their retailer on their options after their current contracts end. Retailers are required to notify consumers at least 10 business days before the end of the contract.
5. More than 2,500 households took part in the latest CSS^[3]. EMA also developed a rating system to reflect the overall satisfaction level for each OEM retailer based on the CSS results. Six retailers obtained a rating of 4.5 and above, an increase from four retailers a year ago. These ratings can be found on the OEM website www.openelectricitymarket.sg and will be updated every six months (refer to Annex A for details).
6. Currently, about 49% of all residential consumers have switched to buying electricity from a retailer. 43% are on fixed price plans and 5% are on discount-off-tariff plans. The OEM retailers with the largest share of residential consumers are Keppel Electric (~22%), Geneco (~20%), and Tuas Power (~15%) (refer to Annex B for details).

Enclosed

Annex A: Latest Open Electricity Market Retailer Rating 
Annex B: Retailers’ Market Share of Residential Consumers 

[1] The CSS report for October 2020 was based on 5,700 responses from residential consumers who switched to an electricity retailer from November 2019 to May 2020, and 1,600 residential consumers who renewed with their retailer from January to June 2020.

[2] The zonal rollout of the Open Electricity Market started in November 2018. By May 2019, all consumers were able to switch to a retailer if they wished to.

[3] The latest CSS report for April 2021 is based on 2,500 responses from residential consumers who switched to an electricity retailer from June to November 2020, and residential consumers who renewed with their retailer from July to December 2020.