One- to three-room HDB households to benefit from $24.8m climate-friendly household package

NEA revealed that over 300,000 households living in one-, two- and three-room HDB flats will qualify for the voucher.

In a bid to encourage more homeowners to invest in energy- and water-efficient appliances, the government will roll out a $24.8 million climate-friendly household package for one-, two- and three-room HDB households, reported CNA.

The package will include a one-off $150 voucher from the National Environment Agency (NEA) to help such households buy refrigerator models that are rated three-ticks and above, said Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli.

“Many households continue to purchase one to two ticks refrigerators, partly due to the higher upfront costs of energy-efficient models, without considering the savings from electricity consumption over the long term,” he said.

NEA revealed that over 300,000 households living in one-, two- and three-room HDB flats will qualify for the voucher.

“Not only will this help fight climate change, households can also benefit from electricity cost savings of up to $60 annually,” explained Masagos.

According to him, refrigerators are one of the top three energy-consuming household appliances.

NEA’s 2017 household energy consumption survey showed that refrigerators made up around 17% of Singapore households’ total electricity consumption. In a separate release, the agency said less than 7% of households are using energy-efficient refrigerators.

Masagos also pointed out that showering accounts for a significant proportion of a household’s water consumption, yet many still go for less water-efficient fittings.

With this, all one- to three-room HDB households will be given a $50 voucher to help them switch to more water-efficient shower fitting models with three-ticks.

“If all eligible households make the switch, we can collectively reduce emissions equivalent to taking around 12,600 cars off the road, and save up to 400 million gallons of water annually,” he added.

Masagos also announced the expansion of the Switch and Save – Use LED programme to cover all three-room HDB households as part of the Climate-friendly Household Package.

First launched in 2018, the programme initially covered one- and two-room HDB households.

A $25 voucher will be given to all three-room HDB households to help them purchase LED lights, which are more energy-efficient than incandescent lights and compact fluorescent lights by 80% and 40%, respectively.

NEA said the programme expansion will benefit around 233,000 HDB households, of which 64% are not using LED lights.

The switching of all these households to LED lights could lead to 12.4 million kWh in energy savings, which is enough to power around 4,000 three-room HDB flats.

NEA noted that around 8,700 one- and two-room HDB households in Singapore has used the vouchers to switch to LED light bulbs since the roll out of the programme.

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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg