Average Electricity and Gas Cost Increase Borne by Hawker Stallholders Since 2023

Mr Jackson Lam asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Government is aware of the average increase in electricity and gas costs borne by hawker stallholders, since 2023; and (b) if so, what is the increase.

My Ministry does not track data on the electricity and gas costs for individual cooked food stallholders at hawker centres. Such costs vary based on a range of factors, including the stall type, equipment used, the volume of business and which suppliers or providers that hawkers use.

Singapore's regulated electricity and town gas tariffs are determined on a quarterly basis, based on the fuel prices in the first two and a half months of the previous quarter. Hawkers paying regulated electricity and town gas tariffs would have seen these tariffs rise in 2024 and ease through 2025 and 1Q 2026, before the global energy price volatility in 2Q 2026 due to the Middle East conflict. The elevated rates in 2024 were mainly driven by fuel and natural gas costs in global energy markets and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Based on surveys of cooked food stallholders conducted by the National Environment Agency, the average cost of utilities, covering gas, water and electricity, remained relatively stable in 2023 and 2024, at around 7% of operating costs in both years. Survey data on 2025 is not yet available. Since 1 July 2026, both regulated electricity tariff and town gas tariff have increased, reflecting the increases in fuel prices from the last quarter due to the Middle East conflict.