Yahoo Finance 10 Best Green Electricity Plans Singapore: Solar and Carbon Neutral Electricity
So, it turns out that I picked an electricity retailer way too soon. It turns out that there are actually retailers offering green electricity plans, and I didn’t do the research properly before making my choice.
I doubt I’m the only one who wasn’t very aware of the green options, because the OEM website itself doesn’t display information about solar and carbon neutral electricity in any way. It’s almost exclusively cost-related information on there (you can hardly blame Singaporeans for being “price-sensitive”).
Well, if you find yourself in a position to research the companies before committing, here’s what I’ve learnt about the various environmentally-friendly and sustainable electricity options in Singapore.
Before you deep dive into solar and carbon neutral energy in Singapore, brush up on your electricity basics with Moneysmart’s Ultimate Guide to Cheapest Electricity in Singapore:
Beginner’s guide to the Open Electricity Market in Singapore
5 Most common questions about switching from Singapore Powers (SP) to electricity retailer
Compare 9 Best Electricity Price Plans in Singapore
All Green and Solar Electricity in Singapore
A list of hidden costs to look out for when choosing electricity retailers
Contents
1. Green electricity plans in Singapore
No time to read? Here’s a quick overview of the various green electricity plans (carbon neutral and solar energy) you can get in Singapore:
Green Electricity Plans | Type | Price (per kWh) | Contract |
Geneco Power Eco Add-On – VCU Carbon Credits | Carbon Neutral | $1 – $4 per month | 6 – 24 months |
Geneco Power Eco Add-On – Renewable Energy Certifications | Carbon Neutral | $1 – $4 per month | 6 – 24 months |
Senoko LifeGreen24 (RECs) | Carbon Neutral | $0.3173 | 24 months |
Senoko LifePower12 (RECs) | Carbon Neutral | $0.3160 | 12 months |
Sembcorp Sunshine Plan | 100% solar | $0.3626 | 12 months |
Sunseap 100% Solar Energy | 100% solar | $0.4494 | 6 months |
Sunseap 1% Solar Energy | 1% solar | $0.4173 | 6 months |
Keppel Electric ecoGreen12 | Carbon Neutral | $0.3720 | 12 months |
Keppel Electric ecoGreen24 | Carbon Neutral | $0.3720 | 24 months |
Pacific Light Sunny Side-Up (max. 25 RECs) | Carbon Neutral | $0.3209 | 12 months |
Note: SP’s electricity rate is $0.3017/kWh for July to September 2022.
2. What exactly is “green electricity” in Singapore’s context?
Before you get swayed by any greenwashing, it’s essential to understand a bit of the basics.
Electricity is usually generated by burning fossil fuels (i.e. oil and gas). This process produces all kinds of awful pollutants and greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, which is widely regarded as the culprit of global warming. Also, fossil fuels are non-renewable natural resources, meaning that at some point in the future, they will be completely depleted.
Green electricity is a catch-all phrase to describe the less-terrible alternatives. But it actually comes in two forms in Singapore: clean (usually solar) energy and carbon neutral electricity.
In its strictest form, green electricity = clean energy, which is electricity generated using renewable, non-polluting resources such as sunlight or wind. Think solar panels.
But in Singapore’s electricity market, many “green electricity” options actually refer to carbon neutral electricity instead.
Carbon neutral electricity is basically your normal electricity (fossil fuel and all), except the retailer also helps you buy a bunch of carbon offset credits. These credits go to companies/businesses with activities that reduce carbon emissions. So it’s kind of like… hurting someone’s feelings, then being extra nice to them to make up for it.
At first glance, it seems like choosing clean electricity (e.g. solar energy) is a better option if you’re environmentally-conscious.
But since electricity is delivered through the common SP Group’s electricity grid, there’s no way to tell if you are actually using the solar-powered electricity you paid for. (Whereas in rural places, people can install their own solar roofs and personally use the energy harvested from there.)
So, ultimately, it’s a symbolic choice. By choosing one of these green plans, you’re telling retailers that you care about the environment and you’re willing to pay a premium, which indirectly creates demand for more emission-reducing activities around the world.
3. Which electricity retailers in Singapore offer green plans?
Electricity retailer | Solar electricity? | Carbon neutral? |
Diamond Electric |  | |
Geneco |  (For Businesses) | (Add-ons) |
Keppel Electric | (Landed property) |
|
Pacific Light Energy | |
|
Sembcorp Power | (Sunshine Plan) |  (all plans include RECs) |
Senoko Energy Supply | | (LifeGreen24) |
Sunseap Energy | (Sunseap-100) | |
Tuas Power Supply | | |
Union Power | | |
There are 6 retailers offering green (to varying degrees) electricity options on the market: Geneco, Keppel Electric, Pacific Light Energy, Sembcorp, Senoko, and Sunseap.
But not all green electricity retailers and plans are built the same way, so it’s difficult for consumers to make an informed decision. I’ll do my best to cover the nuances of each retailer and its offerings below.
4. Geneco – Power Eco Add-Ons
Electricity retailer plan | Price per kWh | Contract |
Geneco Power Eco Add-On – Carbon Credits | $0.0025 – $0.01 (before GST) | 6 to 24 months |
Geneco Power Eco Add-On – Renewable Energy Certifications | $0.0025 – $0.01 (before GST) | 6 to 24 months |
Geneco is one of the more popular electricity retailers in Singapore, and it used to have two types of green electricity plans back in 2019: Get It Green, and Get Sunny. However, these carbon neutral and solar-powered electricity plans have since been phased out. Replacing them are ala carte add-ons that existing Geneco customers can purchase.
When you purchase the Geneco Power Eco Add-On (Carbon Credits), you’re basically giving Geneco $1 to $4 per month to ask them to help you offset your carbon footprint. Using the few dollars you give them, Geneco will buy carbon credits to fund sustainability projects such as forestry, “updating power plants and factories, or increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and transportation.”
The other add-on, Renewable Energy Certifications, where your dollars and cents will be used to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) – literally certificates that confirm the electricity you used came from a renewable source. RECs are also often traded like stocks where people profit from the buy-sell price differences.
Bottom line: Geneco used to have one of the cheapest carbon neutral electricity plan in Singapore alongside a fixed rate solar plan. However, Geneco’s green offerings have since been sidelined to symbolic add-on features.
5. Sunseap – 100% solar energy
Electricity retailer plan | Price per kWh | Contract |
Sunseap 100% Solar Energy | $0.4494 | 6 months |
Sunseap 1% Solar Energy | $0.4173 | 6 months |
Sunseap is the only electricity retailer on this list that’s fully focused on solar energy, so if you’d like to support a company that’s doing work in the clean energy field, this is probably your best bet.
Like Geneco, Sunseap has very clear FAQs on how exactly their solar electricity plans work, so that’s quite reassuring at least:
“When you sign up for any of our solar energy plans, every kWh of solar energy you consume will help displace a kWh of electricity needed from the traditional power generator, up to the amount of solar energy component in the plan you signed up for. This reduces our carbon footprint.”
“For instance, if you are on our Sunseap 100 plan and your monthly electricity usage is around 450kWh, you will essentially be reducing about 450kWh of electricity per month generated from the traditional power generator, thus contributing to reducing our country’s carbon footprint.”
Price-wise, it’s naturally more expensive to be signing up for a 100% solar plan, but if you are living in a relatively small home I think the price difference is not that huge, probably a few dollars more a month.
Bottom line: Sunseap offers a 100% solar plan at $0.4494/kWh – also the most expensive green electricity plan in Singapore. Sunseap, however, has been fully invested in their solar energy efforts from the get-go, and is also the clearest in explaining how their solar plans work.
6. Sembcorp Power – Sunshine Plan
Electricity retailer plan | Price per kWh | Contract |
Sembcorp Sunshine Plan | $0.3626 | 12 months |
Sembcorp Power labels all of their electricity plans as “greener”. All of Sembcorp’s fixed rate, discount off tariff, and no contract electricity plans come with a small portion of “green electricity”. How much greener, exactly?
VP (Retail) at Sembcorp Power Mr Lim Han Kwang explained in 2019 that by “greener” they meant “we retire 50kWh worth of renewable energy certificates (RECs) every month on your behalf.” That’s only a fraction of the 360kWh worth of electricity that a typical HDB 4-room household usage. Ok lah, little bit better than nothing right?
Bottom line: Sembcorp offers a very straightforward Sunshine Plan which is a metered 100% solar energy electricity plan at $0.3626/kWh for 12 months. This is significantly more expensive than the usual Sembcorp fixed rate plans that are priced at $0.3226/kWh.
7. Senoko – Carbon neutral LifeGreen24
Electricity retailer plan | Price per kWh | Contract |
Senoko LifeGreen24 | $0.3173 | 24 months |
Senoko LifePower12 | $0.3160 | 12 months |
Senoko LifePower24 | $0.3130 | 24 months |
Senoko offers a 100% green electricity plan, LifeGreen24, that’s overladen with marketing speech. For the layman, it’s pretty confusing to land on Senoko’s website and see that it’s both 100% carbon neutral and 100% solar energy at the same time. Can, meh?
Well, the crux of Senoko’s LifeGreen24 is the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from solar generation farms in the Southeast Asian region. So, technically that makes LifeGreen24 a carbon neutral electricity plan that supports solar energy farms via RECs. You will then receive a report every August detailing the RECs that have been retired on your behalf.
Bottom Line: Senoko’s LifeGreen24 comes with a 24-month contract but has no transmission loss charges, which eliminates hidden costs for individuals who prefer fuss-free plans.
8. Keppel Electric – carbon neutral ecoGreen plan
Electricity retailer plan | Price per kWh | Contract |
Keppel Electric ecoGreen12 | $0.3720 | 12 months |
Keppel Electric ecoGreen24 | $0.3720 | 24 months |
Keppel Electric launched their ecoGreen plans in February 2022, and they come in two contract periods: 12 months and 24 months.
Keppel Electric‘s green electricity plans are carbon neutral, and are not solar energy. According to Keppel Electric, customers who sign up for the ecoGreen plans will have “Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) from Singapore” retired annually for them.
For all you ballers living in landed properties, you can install Keppel Electric’s solar panels in your place. Again, the process is not that romantic – you don’t actually get to use the solar energy generated on premises. Instead, the solar electricity generated has to be sold back to SP Group, and you get rebates in your electricity bill. If you’re interested, there’s a DBS Green Renovation loan that you can take up to finance the installation.
Bottom Line: At $0.3720/kWh, Keppel’s carbon neutral ecoGreen plan is pretty expensive compared to competitors’.
9. Conclusion: Which green electricity plan is best?
There are two types of “green” electricity plans in Singapore: carbon neutral and solar energy. The former involves bundling carbon offset credits with your electricity plan, while the latter typically represents an investment into developing and implementing solar energy systems.
In my opinion, choosing a solar energy plan probably has a bigger impact on the environment, especially if the retailer is funnelling the proceeds directly into their own clean energy business. But it is more expensive.
If you’re OK with somewhat carbon neutral electricity and are focusing only on price, Geneco offers carbon credits and Renewable Energy Certificate add-ons to their usual plans.
There are only 3 100% solar electricity plans in Singapore: Senoko LifeGreen24, Sembcrop Sunshine Plan, and Sunseap-100.
Senoko’s LifeGreen24 is the cheapest on the market right now at $0.2923/kWh.
Make no mistake though – solar is usually significantly more expensive than a regular electricity plan.
10. What can you do if you didn’t choose a green plan?
But I do realise that choosing the “right” electricity retailer isn’t the be-all and end-all. In fact, the whole idea of carbon offsets has been criticised as being ineffective at dealing with the root of the problem, which is overconsumption of energy.
If you care about the environment, you can still do your part by reducing your electricity (and overall energy) consumption – which, incidentally, helps you save money too, so it’s a win-win.
Other things you can do are to purchase your own carbon offset credits if it helps you sleep at night. These will soon to be available to residential consumers via SP‘s fancy new “digital marketplace”.
Alternatively, you could also invest in a company that is innovating in the clean energy field, rather than investing purely based on financial gain. Crazy, I know. Just putting it out there.
Is it worth it to opt for a green electricity plan? Tell us why or why not!
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Original article: 10 Best Green Electricity Plans Singapore: Solar and Carbon Neutral Electricity.
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