Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning to all of you.

1. Thank you for attending this year’s Energy Forum, themed “Energy Developments and Opportunities 2014”. This forum was launched by EMA in 2011 as an annual platform for industry leaders and academia to network and exchange views on energy topics affecting the future growth of Singapore.
2. EMA co-funds innovative projects in areas relevant to our energy sector such as power generation, smart grid and gas. To maximise the overall returns of these projects to Singapore energy sector, we need to share the findings and learn from one another. We hope to achieve this through the inaugural Energy Innovation event this afternoon. This platform will allow researchers and industry to exchange learning points and explore collaboration opportunities. It will also allow them to respond to our upcoming grant calls on smart grid and gas technology.
3. In addition, EMA is continuing with a youth track for the Energy Forum, called Energy Connect, to provide an opportunity for students from the Institute of Technical Education, junior colleges, polytechnics and universities to learn more about job opportunities in the power sector, and hopefully interest some of them to take courses in power engineering and join the power sector after they graduate.
4. The power sector plays a critical role in powering lives and creating good jobs for Singaporeans. Today, Singapore offers one of the most reliable power systems in the world, delivered at competitive grid charges. Compared to when Singapore Power was first corporatised in 1995, grid charges have dropped by more than 10 percent in nominal terms. If we factor in inflation over the years, the drop in real terms is even higher, around 33 percent. So how did we achieve this positive outcome? There are of course many factors, but one important factor is that we have a sound regulatory framework that incentivises Singapore Power to implement productivity improvements and efficiency gains, which translate into savings for consumers. The management and the team at SP have taken up the challenge and over the years, they have put in a lot of effort to try and improve productivity and bring down cost, while keeping reliability standards high.
5. When I first came to EMA in 2011, the electricity tariff for households was 27.28 cents/kWh. Today, it has dropped to 25.73 cents/kWh. Again if we take into account inflation, this is a drop in real terms of around nine percent. Likewise, electricity pool prices in the wholesale market have decreased significantly due to more generation capacity entering the market over the past two years. EMA is also working with the industry to introduce more choices for consumers to manage their electricity costs. These include an expansion of retail contestability to more commercial & industrial consumers, eventually leading to full retail contestability for all consumers in Singapore, as well as new energy options like demand response and the deployment of solar energy.

Reducing Costs and Enhancing Flexibility for Businesses

6. Moving forward, it is important for EMA to continue to look for specific ways to help lower energy and compliance costs for businesses, especially SMEs. SMEs play an important role in Singapore’s economy and provide jobs for many Singaporeans. EMA’s scope is quite narrowly-defined, our main focus is on the electricity and gas markets, but we will do what we can to help.
7. For example, we are developing an e-Submission System to streamline our licensees’ reporting processes, and reduce their time and effort to meet regulatory obligations. We have also simplified the reporting requirements for our licensees by eliminating unnecessary data collection and reducing the frequency for submission of Compliance Statements. These are just the start. We can do more but we need your help. If there are other ways which EMA can reduce compliance costs, I will welcome our industry players to send us your feedback and your suggestions. I believe this is a win-win arrangement because you are helping us to help yourselves. We may not agree with every idea that you put up but I want to assure you that my colleagues and I will go through every feedback carefully and we will aim to implement as many of them as possible.
8. To coordinate our pro-business efforts, I formed a taskforce in EMA to review all our rules and licensing requirements with the objective of reducing costs and enhancing flexibility for businesses. The taskforce will start with an internal review, before we extend the scope subsequently to cover the rules and procedures of our licensees like SP PowerGrid and SP Services. It is important to include these licensees in the review because some of their rules may have an impact on businesses and SMEs.

Improving Service Delivery and Promoting Energy Efficiency

9. Next, I would like to announce the formation of two other taskforces which we are setting up together with Singapore Power. These are joint taskforces that will be co-led by senior representatives from both EMA and Singapore Power. They will focus on two important areas which have potential to benefit many Singapore consumers. First, how to help consumers improve energy efficiency and reduce their electricity bills. Second, how to further improve customer service, including how SP Services handles late payment cases and consumers with arrears. In particular, I have asked the taskforce to look at how we can better help vulnerable families who are facing genuine financial difficulties in paying their utilities bills. The way we handle such cases cannot be the same as how we handle consumers who can afford to pay their bills but just refuse to pay. We need different approaches for different groups of consumers.
10. I have discussed the formation of these taskforces with Mr Wong Kim Yin, Group CEO of Singapore Power. He readily agreed when I raised the idea with him, because these are also issues which are close to his heart. I want to take this opportunity to thank Kim Yin for his support. I am confident that together, Singapore Power and EMA can come up with some good ideas to help Singapore consumers. Kim Yin and I will track the progress of the joint taskforces closely, we will meet them every month to go through their findings and recommendations. We will also pull together resources from EMA and Singapore Power to implement the proposals, so that we bring about concrete improvements and benefits to consumers.

Conclusion

11. Let me conclude by turning the focus back to today’s Energy Forum. You will be hearing shortly from a distinguished line up of speakers such as Professor Ng Wun Jern, the Executive Director of the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute and Dean of NTU’s College of Engineering. He will discuss emerging opportunities and challenges in the waste-to-energy arena in Singapore. We will also hear from Mr Jeffrey Lines, the CEO of Demansys Energy, who will be sharing with us the potential of energy storage technologies.
12. Thank you very much, and I wish all of you a pleasant and fruitful session.