SP Services dilemma

[ozchick]

So SP services does the electricity reading every month, but I understand from them that every second month it's an estimated bill. Why?
Who knows!
So this month they 'estimated' my bill at $563 which is well over $100 more than it's ever been before in my 12 months here. All this considering we haven't had to use much AC at all cos it's been quite cool.
So I phoned to complain and they say they'll adjust it next month but I'm not happy and they say they'll call back ,and of course they don't.
So have any of you guys had such problems with them and how does one become a 'satisfied' customer? (Or am I dreaming?!)

[sierra2469alpha]

Oz - a couple of questions for you:

Are you in a landed property or condo/apartment?
Did you pay a deposit?

We too received our SP bill today - with no markup. Check on the back of your bill - there is a graph which shows the "national average" and your usage - maybe if you are over it one area then they may think something is amiss.

Also, go back and check all your bills - I had an investment property in HKG and the gas kept on creeping up and up and up - turned out there was a minor leak just before it entered my property, but the tenant was getting charged for it. Similar issue with a place back in Oz, old wiring that I thought I had fixed, and when the electrician came and checked it all tested fine. Turned out we had a dodgy RCD in the switchbox that leaked back into an old circuit we hadn't dicovered (I know, for you semi-electricians out there - go figure that one out!!).

So check your bills and see if there is a minor rise, or a sudden rise in something. That might just stimulate their god-awful accounting system to hit you with something like this.

In terms of dealing with SP Services - apart from the fact I cannot pay my bill via a credit card, they have generally been OK, however, we haven't had the situation you have described.

Not much help, I know, but I tried

P

HTH, Mr. P

[hibri2]

So this month they 'estimated' my bill at $563 which is well over $100 more than it's ever been before in my 12 months here. All this considering we haven't had to use much AC at all cos it's been quite cool.

according to this site: http://www.singaporepower.com.sg/publis ... _9418.html

29 September 2008

ELECTRICITY TARIFF REVISION FOR THE PERIOD 1 OCTOBER TO 31 DECEMBER 2008

For the quarter 1 Oct to 31 Dec 08, the average electricity tariffs will be increased by 5.38 cents (S$0.0538) per kWh. This represents an increase of 21.46% for households. On average, taking into account the tariffs for all customer categories, the tariff increase is 21.89%.

The increase is due to higher fuel oil prices. For the period 1 Oct to 31 Dec 08, tariffs are pegged to a higher forward fuel oil price of S$155.14 per barrel. The forward fuel oil price is 38.06% higher than that of S$112.35 per barrel for the current quarter.

The transmission (grid) charges will be revised downwards with effect from 1 Oct 08 and now accounts for only 16.16% of the low tension tariff. The revised tariffs are shown in Appendix 1.

The electricity tariff is reviewed quarterly and adjusted accordingly in line with the fluctuation in the cost of electricity. If forward fuel oil prices come down in Oct 08, the electricity tariff for the Jan to Mar 09 quarter will be reduced accordingly. The tariff adjustments have been approved by the industry regulator, the Energy Market Authority.

20 something % is sort of the 100 extra (assuming an average of + / - S$500 you say its your last year usage)

so, yep... thanks to the "war on terror (tm)" we are all paying 20% more on that here.

[Saint]

$500 per month Are you sure you're not getting charged for the whole floor!

[Bafana]

I got mine today (which is probably why I ranted on my other post on food court rudeness) it was up 100 bucks on what was already way to high telling me I am consuming over 1MW of electricity a month.

Maybe I should turn teh standby off on my turbo charged hyper accelerated time machine - That could cut the bill a bit maybe??? Doubt it...

They are really rip-off merchants with their estimates and have never seen them give it back either.

Any suggestions on getting some action on this?

[hibri2]

$500 per month Are you sure you're not getting charged for the whole floor!

heaters and aircons will do the magic, Saint...

i used to live with "melting" flatmates that kept their aircon and the shower heater on a lot (they liked their air cold and their water hot ) and our "shared" bills where in the order of 500 (before the 20% increase)

[Saint]

$500 per month Are you sure you're not getting charged for the whole floor!

heaters and aircons will do the magic, Saint...

i used to live with "melting" flatmates that kept their aircon and the shower heater on a lot (they liked their air cold and their water hot ) and our "shared" bills where in the order of 500 (before the 20% increase)

Which are the 2 things we hardly use

[hibri2]

They are really rip-off merchants with their estimates and have never seen them give it back either.

im not saying they are angels, but electricity in singapore is oil based...

if you read the link i posted there, its clear.

[hibri2]

Which are the 2 things we hardly use

same here, cold water in the morning (well, anytime here in singapore) is bliss... and aircons, well, a tip i use is the timer function, auto off one hour before im ready to sleep and im sleeping when it goes off.

actually the 8 am morning heat is my alarm clock! so i also save on that

[Bafana]

Oil prices are now down so how???

They gonna give us a discount or refund...

[sierra2469alpha]

Hibri - thanks for the post, but looking at Ms. C and my SP bills we're already on the .3045 rate and have not noticed any significant increase as Ozchick mentioned.

Hence why it may be something weird - SP Services billing system, I have to say, is possibly the worst I have seen in my entire career.

@Bafana - Oh I doubt that we'll get decreases there! However, if they allowed people to pay their accounts normally, and just running some quick figures, they'd surely save a bucketload of money, not to mention decrease their own carbon footprint by not sending everyone some paper rubbish in our monthly bills, telling us how to reduce our carbon footprint!!!

Mr. P

[hibri2]

Oil prices are now down so how???

They gonna give us a discount or refund...

dont know about refunds, but the site describes the rate as revised quarterly... so jan 2009 we will see.

[hibri2]

Hibri - thanks for the post, but looking at Ms. C and my SP bills we're already on the .3045 rate and have not noticed any significant increase as Ozchick mentioned.

agreed, as always my posts are just a pointer, not a definitive answer.

on the other hand, now that i moved with fellow hippies our bills are generally low for a 3 bedrooms condo flat and there is no drastic increase, maybe its based on consumption over the national average (there should be a reason for that little line in the bills) or maybe some other, as you said, weird factor. could be that SP reads ozchick posts and they got pissed at the "napkins to reserve tables" complains

not to mention decrease their own carbon footprint by not sending everyone some paper rubbish in our monthly bills, telling us how to reduce our carbon footprint!!!
Mr. P

thats is our monthly complain every time we get the bloody bill and assorted rubbish inside the envelop... the illusion of progress...

by the way, sierra2469alpha, apologies if it sounds picky but the nick is hibri2 (from hibridos meaning hybrid in spanish , hibri sounds like some type of bird in my head)

[sierra2469alpha]

...by the way, sierra2469alpha, apologies if it sounds picky but the nick is hibri2 (from hibridos meaning hybrid in spanish , hibri sounds like some type of bird in my head)

My apologies, hibri2 - no offence meant. As mentioned via PM we get some people who append a number to their nickname, so I made a bad assumption to shorten it. I'm sorry if this has caused you any grief.

[ozchick]

Oz - a couple of questions for you:

Are you in a landed property or condo/apartment?
Did you pay a deposit?

We too received our SP bill today - with no markup. Check on the back of your bill - there is a graph which shows the "national average" and your usage - maybe if you are over it one area then they may think something is amiss.

Also, go back and check all your bills - I had an investment property in HKG and the gas kept on creeping up and up and up - turned out there was a minor leak just before it entered my property, but the tenant was getting charged for it. Similar issue with a place back in Oz, old wiring that I thought I had fixed, and when the electrician came and checked it all tested fine. Turned out we had a dodgy RCD in the switchbox that leaked back into an old circuit we hadn't dicovered (I know, for you semi-electricians out there - go figure that one out!!).

So check your bills and see if there is a minor rise, or a sudden rise in something. That might just stimulate their god-awful accounting system to hit you with something like this.

In terms of dealing with SP Services - apart from the fact I cannot pay my bill via a credit card, they have generally been OK, however, we haven't had the situation you have described.

Not much help, I know, but I tried

P

HTH, Mr. P

Yeah we're in a condo apartment. Still haven't heard from the SP services but didn't expect to....sigh...wouldn't it be funny if they had a complaints department...yeah like THAT'S gonna happen.
So the ELECTRICTY READS from August -Novmber 891 kwh/1097 kwh/ 1441kwh and Novemmber (estimated 1590). The national average is 696.

The same bill shows the WATER AT 7.1/13.9/18.7
and November (estimated) 20.6. The national average is 17.8

Look how these figures for both are climbing month after month. What is going on here? For the last month we've used way less AC than before and were absent for a week. It appers that because it's previously climbed over 3 months that that SP expects it to climb again. But why did it climb over the 3 previous month cos when we've not done anything different? Sigh.............think I'll visit them with a 'stink bomb' !Ooh did I say bomb?!