Additional Plans to Improve Energy Conservation and Manage Energy Demand by Businesses and Households

22 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Ministry has new or additional plans to improve energy conservation and manage energy demand by businesses and households; and (b) if so, what are these plans.

The Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment): Speaker, Question No 22. The Government is committed to supporting energy conservation efforts and has recently introduced new measures, such as the Energy Efficiency Grant, which supports SMEs in the food services, food manufacturing and retail sectors to invest in energy-efficient equipment.

The Energy Market Authority has also introduced Demand Response and Interruptible Load programmes that companies can participate in to optimise their energy consumption. Under these programmes, participating companies receive incentive payments in exchange for reducing electricity consumption during periods of high electricity prices or tight supply.

The Government also regularly reviews the support measures for businesses and households to become more energy efficient. For example, the grant support cap for NEA’s Energy Efficiency Fund (E2F) for the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in manufacturing was raised this year from 50% to 70% of qualifying costs. We have also simplified the application process for standard lighting and air-conditioning energy efficiency retrofit projects to encourage take-up. We will also continue to monitor and review the Climate-Friendly Households Programme, which encourages 1-, 2- and 3-room HDB households to switch to resource-efficient and climate-friendly refrigerators, LED lamps and shower fittings.

In addition to support measures, the Government also regularly reviews the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) to continually shift the market towards more energy-efficient equipment and appliances.

We will continue to consult closely with industry partners and the community to identify new technologies and ways to help businesses and households improve their energy efficiency.

Mr Speaker: Mr Liang Eng Hwa.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang): Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for sharing the various energy conservation efforts and initiatives. I have this sense that the public and businesses may not all be familiar with these schemes. So, given the rising energy costs and our push to decarbonise, can I ask the Senior Minister of State if we should step up on public communications and to build this consciousness about energy conservation and to have visibility in some of these efforts as well, so as to get more buy-in?

My second question is whether, based on our current way of consumption, the Senior Minister of State sees further significant scope to conserve energy and whether it can really move the needle in terms of managing demand.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I thank the Member for the two supplementary questions.

Firstly, with regard to promotion and raising awareness, indeed, we agree that we need to continue to raise awareness amongst the businesses and households of the various schemes that we have that will have the potential to help them improve their energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

The various lead agencies – NEA, EDB, BCA, EMA and Enterprise Singapore – do reach out to the businesses through the trade associations and chambers, for instance. NEA also undertakes industry consultations as well as briefings to raise awareness among the industries and the businesses about the various schemes that we have to improve energy efficiency. For instance, we have been promoting and supporting energy conservation efforts, such as NEA's E2F fund.

As I have said, the Energy Efficiency Technology Centre, which is a collaboration between NEA and Singapore Institute of Technology, has been providing low-cost energy audits to some of the manufacturing SMEs. In fact, E2F has supported 34 companies since 2019, whilst EETC has completed low-cost energy assessments of over 100 energy consuming systems covering over 20 manufacturing SMEs. For Enterprise Singapore, too, they have their Enterprise Sustainability Programme (ESP) which they promote as well as the Resource Efficiency Grant for Energy in terms of emissions which EDB also promotes.

For households, as I have shared, we have the climate-friendly households programme for the 1-, 2- and 3-roomers. When we first started the programme, we sent out mailers to all the eligible households. What we are doing to encourage take-up is to work with the CDCs as well as with the community organisations on the ground to publicise this scheme and to do house-to-house visits. We are also sending SMSes to the eligible households who have not utilised the vouchers. But we will continue to see how we can promote the scheme.

As far as improving energy consumption is concerned, it is possible. In fact, for the climate-friendly households, if everybody utilises the vouchers and get more energy-efficient refrigerators, shower fittings, LED lights, clearly, there will be a significant reduction in energy consumption. It is also with the other schemes for the businesses. I do have the numbers, but I think I can share that with the Member later.