Tag Archives: price hike

The PAP Senior Minister of State and colorectal surgeon Koh Poh Koon tried to justify the increase in MediShield Life premiums in 2021 by saying that delaying such an increase will only result in “steeper hikes down the road to catch up with rising claims.” MediShield Life premiums are expected …

Did not take long for another price increase. For the month of May 1 to July 31, gas tariffs will increase by 2.4%. Gas tariffs are for households who uses the City Gas. The hike was due to a 9.2 per cent increase in fuel costs compared with the previous quarter, which was announced to justify the price increase. Will 2017 be remembered for the year where everything with a price in Singapore was raised by the authorities? We are only in April, but a slew of price hikes have already been announced. Well, the majority voted for this, right? Wanted to give them the mandate to keep sucking our bloods. They have gone out and did just that.

Price increases on various services have been coming in thick and fast since the general election in 2015. The 6.1% increase in electricity tariff to be implemented with immediate effect is but the latest example.

The price of water was only $0.53 per cu m in 1990. The price of water is now $2.25 ($2.10 + 7% GST) and will be about $2.93 ($2.74 + 7% GST) after the 30 per cent increase from 1 July 2018.

When finance minister Mr Heng Swee Kiat went to deliver the budget speech in Parliament, many people were relieved to know that the minister has finally recovered from his horrible stroke and ready to serve the country again. But the welcoming relief soon turned to shock as the minister drops a bombshell by announcing a 30% price hike in our water pricing.

“On Wednesday, fellow WP MP Png Eng Huat asked about the scale of losses made supplying water. If this Government is bent on raising the price of an essential commodity by 30 per cent, it is certainly the right time to open the books to Singaporeans to justify the increase,” he said. In response, Mr Masagos said: “We are unable to provide details of computation because of commercial sensitivities”.

PAPpies and their running dogs in the constructive, nation-building media and academia and on social media say that the price of water hasn’t been changed for years, so we shouldn’t be getting worked up about the 30% hike (peanuts, really). But 18 months ago, VivianB said (see below) there was no need to change the price because PUB has improvements in membrane tech and productivity and that the water tariff and WCT reflect the scarcity of water.

Following an expose online of the Public Utilities Board's (PUB) $160 million profit last year, the government has responded by clarifying that the profits for the national water agency were only made possible because the government had given it $200 million in grants.

The Net Income after Government Grants and after Contribution to GCF (Government Consolidated Fund) and Taxation (Profits) for FY2015 was $166.8 million – an increase of 77.3 per cent compared to say FY2010’s profit of $94.1 million.

Water price hike is normal but to increase 30% is abnormal. Normal will be 1%-5% for necessities like water. Water must never be a luxury. Ask any business manager or accountant, 30% increase can be only due to incompetency, greed, power, bad accounting and bad management.