3 Types of Households That Will Save Money By Switching To Open Electricity Market (OEM) With Geneco

This article was written in collaboration with Geneco. All views expressed in this article are the independent opinion of DollarsAndSense.sg based on our research. DollarsAndSense.sg is not liable for any financial losses that may arise from any transactions and readers are encouraged to do their own due diligence. You can view our full editorial policy here.

Since the launch of the Open Electricity Market (OEM) in 2018, the electricity market has been liberalised in Singapore. Households now have the option to buy their electricity from various electricity retailers instead of the default provider, SP Group.

Now that we are working from home more (and less able to enjoy the company-paid-for air conditioning at work), we should start paying attention to our home electricity usage. The fact that work-from-home arrangements will likely stay in some form makes it even more sensible to save on our home electricity usage.

Whether you are considering the switch to OEM for the first time or thinking of trying a new provider because your contract is ending, buying from the OEM will save you money on your electricity bills.

Here are 3 types of households that will save money by switching to an OEM provider, such as Geneco.

#1 Households That Want More Certainty Over Their Electricity Bills

Under the regular electricity provision by SP Group, your electricity bill can fluctuate every quarter as new tariff rates are released. As you can see in the chart below, electricity tariff rates have been on the rise in the past 4 quarters – after coming down slightly before that.

Source: SP Group

Moreover, even if your household electricity usage is stable, you may be paying a very different electricity bill every 3 months. This can make it difficult to budget for your monthly household expenses.

For example, if your electricity usage spiked because of additional air conditioning use due to working from home. This spike may be amplified if the tariff rate also increased during the same period. If you are on fixed price plan, you are immediately alerted to drastic changes in your household electricity usage by simply looking at your bill size.

By locking in a good fixed-price plan with an OEM provider, such as Geneco’s Get It Fixed 24 plan, you can have more certainty about your monthly electricity bills and able to budget your fixed monthly household expenses better. Moreover, you can lock-in the rate for 2 years without worrying about potential upward fluctuations in tariff.

Given that the current tariff rate for 1 April to 30 June 2021 is 24.13 cents per kWh, switching to Geneco’s Get It Fixed Plan 24 (at 19.58 cents per kWh) will mean savings of 18% – which you can lock-in for 2 years. If you are currently paying $100 for your electricity bill at the regular tariff rate of $0.2413, your household electricity usage would be around 414 kW of energy. If you switch to Get It Fixed 24 plan (at $0.1958), this will result in a monthly savings of $18.86 or $452.64 over the 24-month contract period.

If you sign up in May 2021 during Geneco’s May-ssive Savings promotion, you can receive up to $165 worth of rebates, the current highest in town. To do so, you can use the promo code GENECO80 for $80 bill rebate, and a friend’s referral code for another $50 off (also the highest in town). Plus, you can receive up to $35 additional bill rebate when you charge recurring bill payments to your credit cards from Citibank, HSBC, POSB or UOB.

#2 Households That Want To Save The Earth By Using Green Or Solar Energy And Still Save Money

Going green does not have to cost more. In fact, adopting more environmentally sustainable solutions has been gaining traction here as Singapore aggressively pushes towards the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

According to the Energy Market Authority (EMA), 95.6% of Singapore’s energy is generated from natural gas in 2019. For environmentally-conscious households, OEM providers can also provide alternative environmentally friendly sources of energy.

The best part of this is that you don’t have to be an eco-warrior to benefit from going green. Just switching to an OEM provider and choosing a green energy plan will save you money compared to using the regular tariff rates.

For example, Geneco provides 100% carbon-neutral energy under their Get It Green plan. Under this plan, Geneco estimates the carbon emission impact and obtains carbon credits on your behalf to offset the carbon impact you emit. Geneco also provides a 100% solar energy plan under their Get Sunny which comes from renewable solar energy.

Using today’s tariff rate of 24.13 cents per kWh (for 1 April to 30 June 2021), Get It Green (at 19.58 cents per kWh) will give you exactly the same 20% savings you can get on its Get It Fixed 24, while being carbon neutral. Alternatively, 100% solar energy with Get Sunny (at 20.88 cents per kWh) will still give you a savings of 13%.

You can also enjoy the promotional bill rebates on these plans. Use GENECO30 when you sign up for Get It Green for $30 bill rebate, or GENECO80 when you sign up for Get Sunny for $80 bill rebate. These rebates can also be combined with referral rebate and credit card offers too.

#3 Households That Cannot Commit Long-Term And Still Want To Save Money

OEM is not just for regular households who can sign up for a 2-year contract. There are options for households who need flexibility. For example, if you are planning to move to a new house but are still in the market for a home, you may not want to sign a 24-month contract or even a 12-month contract with an OEM provider. Likewise, those who are renting may also think twice about signing a long contract.

Short contract plans such as Geneco’s Give Us A Try allow such households to enjoy the cost savings of OEM. With just a short 6-month contract, Give Us A Try (at 16.98 cents per kWh) will save us almost 30% off our electricity bill – perfect for those of us who cannot commit to a long-term plan. To make this better, Give Us A Try has the lowest rate amongst all the 6-month plans available on the market today and they provide a price-match guarantee to ensure that you will enjoy the best available rate.

As for those households who are worried about using an OEM provider, a short-term contract can also provide an entry point or trial period to test out the provider before committing to a long-term relationship.

According to EMA, 48% of household accounts have switched to buying electricity from an OEM provider as of October 2020. This means half of all Singaporean households are enjoying the cost savings of switching to OEM. If you want to start enjoying cost savings on your electricity bills, consider switching to Geneco.

Switch, Spend and Get Up to S$500 with POSB

Credit your salary to get S$300, then spend with us to enjoy additional S$200. Register now with POSB. T&Cs apply. SGD Deposits are insured up to S$100K by SDIC.