Debated in Parliament on 5 Oct 2022.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Trade and Industry of the natural gas used for electricity generation in Singapore (a) what is the current proportion derived from piped natural gas versus shipped liquefied natural gas; and (b) what has been the year-to-date price change in fuel costs for each source of natural gas.
Domestically, around 95% of our electricity is generated using natural gas. For 2021, around two-thirds of our natural gas is imported as term Piped Natural Gas (PNG), while the remaining one-third is imported as term Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Our electricity generation companies also use spot LNG to supplement their long-term contracts.
Between January and August 2022, prices of PNG and LNG provided through term contracts have risen by around 21% and 38% respectively. Spot LNG prices have increased by 113%. The year-on-year increase, from August 2021 before the energy crunch started to August 2022, is 20% and 50% for PNG and LNG provided under long term contracts respectively, and 224% for spot LNG. As Singapore imports most of our energy supply for electricity production, the increase in global energy prices over the past year will flow through into our prices.
Countries around the world are struggling with rising energy prices, especially as winter approaches. I know that many Singaporeans are also concerned about whether something similar might happen to us. Our approach has always been to right-price electricity and provide targeted assistance, such as GST Voucher - U-Save rebates to consumers, especially to the vulnerable and low-income ones. The Energy Market Authority is also prepared to introduce more emergency measures to forestall extreme volatility in electricity prices if necessary.
PAPERCUTS