Following a 30% water price increase and higher diesel tax this year, the prices of electricity will also go up by up to 4.3% due to a new carbon tax introduced by the ruling party PAP government.
According to the government paper released yesterday (Mar 20), the new carbon tax, which will implement in 2019, will impose a tax up to S$20 per tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emission. As a result this will also increase business operating costs equivalent that of a 12.7% increase in current oil prices. Companies like power supplier Singapore Power and waste incinerators will pass on the carbon tax levied to Singaporeans, raising prices for electricity and waste collection.
Like the 30% increase in water price, the increase of essential services like electricity will also trigger a round of inflation for all goods and services, worsening the affordability of living in the world’s most costliest city.
Propaganda state media Straits Times interviewed businesses and right-wing economists claiming that the cost increase, “if any”, will be “marginal” and affordable for Singaporeans. The government is currently conducting “public consultations” over the impact of the new Carbon tax, but the public’s opinion remain ineffectual to the already-determined outcome.