1-room to 3-room HDB households to receive $150 vouchers for energy-efficient and climate-friendly refrigerators, and $50 vouchers for water-efficient shower fittings. Programme offering $25 vouchers for LED lights to be expanded to include 3-room HDB households.
JOINT NEWS RELEASE BETWEEN NEA AND PUB
Singapore, 4 March 2019 – By the end of this year, one-room, two-room and three-room HDB households in Singapore will start to receive a $150 voucher to make the cost of an energy-efficient and climate-friendly refrigerator more affordable to them, as well as a $50 voucher for the purchase of water-efficient shower fittings. In addition, the “Switch and Save – Use LED” (SSUL) programme, first launched in 2018 to all one-room to two-room HDB households, will be expanded to all three-room public housing households. Under this SSUL programme, each household will receive a $25 voucher to purchase LED lights. One-room and two-room HDB households that have yet to redeem their SSUL voucher will be notified that they have more time to do so.
2 These programmes make up the $24.8 million Climate-friendly Household Package, which aims to foster climate-friendly practices in households and encourage the public to take action as individuals to reduce energy and water consumption, while saving on costs in the long run.
$150 voucher for energy-efficient and climate-friendly refrigerators
3 Refrigerators are common household appliances and one of the most energy-intensive household appliances, accounting for about 17 percent of the total electricity consumption1 in Singapore households. While consumers are increasingly buying more energy efficient refrigerators2 , less than 7 per cent of households today are using energy-efficient refrigerators.
4 While energy-efficient refrigerators may be costlier upfront, consumers will be able to reap cost savings from lower electricity consumption in the long run. Despite the energy cost savings being sufficient to cover the higher cost of a more energy efficient model, the higher upfront cost deters some households from making the switch.
5 To encourage and help lower-income households switch to energy-efficient refrigerators, NEA will be offering a once off $150 voucher to each one-room, two-room and three-room HDB households, that can be used for the purchase of energy-efficient refrigerators that are rated three-ticks and above3, and that use climate-friendly4 refrigerants.
6 More than 300,000 one-room, two-room and three-room HDB households will qualify for the programme. The potential combined electricity cost savings of these households is about $160 million5 over the typical lifespan of the refrigerator. The associated carbon abatement is equivalent to 357 million kgCO2 of carbon emissions, or the annual carbon emissions from 110,000 cars.
7 The use of more energy-efficient appliances is an important climate action that households can adopt, as saving electricity reduces emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Expansion of SSUL programme
8 Under the SSUL programme, NEA offered a $25 voucher to each one-room and two-room HDB households for the purchase of LED lights. LED lights use about 80 per cent less electricity compared to incandescent lights, and 40 per cent less electricity compared to compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and linear fluorescent lights. LED lights generally last longer as well, and in the long-run, can help households save money on electricity costs and reduce the frequency of the replacement of lights6.
9 Under the SSUL programme, $25 vouchers for LED lights have already been sent to some 80,000 households living in one-room and two-room HDB flats7. By the end of the programme in December 2019, about 8,700 households across Singapore had successfully switched to LED light bulbs through the SSUL programme8, bringing up the overall penetration rate of LED lights9 for one-room and two-room flat from 28 to about 38 per cent.
10 NEA will extend the SSUL programme to three-room HDB households. There are currently around 233,000 three-room HDB households, of which 6410 per cent are not using LED lights. If these households switched to LED lights, they can potentially save up to 12.4 million kWh collectively in annual energy costs, which is equivalent to saving enough energy to power about 4,000 three-room HDB flats.
$50 voucher for more water-efficient shower fittings
11 Among the key uses of water in a household, showers make up the largest component of water usage, accounting for close to 30 per cent of a household’s total water consumption. To encourage households to make the switch to more water-efficient fittings, a once-off $50 voucher will be given to all one-, two- and three-room public housing households to offset the cost of changing their shower fittings to more water-efficient 3-tick11 models. Potential water savings of up to 400 million gallons of water can be reaped annually if all eligible households make the switch.
12 NEA and PUB are currently working on the details of the Climate-friendly Household Package, including the mode of dissemination to eligible households. More details will be announced when ready.
[1] Based on NEA’s 2017 household energy consumption survey.
[2] Following the enhancement of the tick-rating system in 2014, sales of refrigerators rated three-tick or better under MELS have increased from 20 per cent in 2015 to 54 per cent in 2018.
[3] The Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) was introduced in 2008 to help consumers make more informed choices when selecting their appliances. Refrigerator models that are more energy-efficient are affixed with three- or four-tick labels, with higher ticks indicating higher energy efficiency.
[4] As part of the Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) Mitigation Package of Measures, NEA has also introduced a Climate-friendly Label for household refrigerators and air-conditioners using refrigerants that have lower global warming potential.
[5] Assuming annual savings of about $50 over a 10-year lifespan of a refrigerator when household change to a three-tick model from a one-tick model.
[6] Over a usage period of 15,000 hours and for the same output of light, households can save about $150 or $20 by switching to LED bulbs from incandescent and CFL bulbs respectively.
[7] SSUL was first launched in the North East District, and progressively launched across the rest of Singapore over 2018 and 2019.
[8] Refers to households that have utilised the SSUL vouchers.
[9] Refers to percentage of households with at least one LED bulb.
[10] Based on 2017 Household Energy Consumption Survey.
[11] The Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling (Mandatory WELS) was introduced by PUB in 2009 as a grading system denoting the water efficiency level of a product.
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