The history of Singapore Power company starts in 1995 and since then it has gone through a few periods of transformation. It is still the biggest retailer of electricity in Singapore but due to legislative changes, it lost some of its market share.
- Establishment
The company was founded in 1995 as Singapore Power. It was and still is a state-owned company. It is not governed directly by any government organization. Instead, it is owned by an organization that is state-owned as well. Temasek Holdings is the sole owner of Singapore Power and has assets under management worth $306 billion, spread across multiple subsidiaries.
- Subsidiaries
Since 1995, the history of Singapore Power company has included the establishment of several subsidiaries. As 95% of electricity produced in Singapore derives from natural gas, Singapore Power established PowerGas. To manage its assets, the company also created another subsidiary under the name SP PowerAssets. The company continued its expansion and established subsidiaries overseas such as their branch in Australia.
- Transformation and post-2018 liberalization
As the company continued to grow by building more subsidiaries and expanding overseas, a name change was imminent. February 2017, Singapore Power as a name ceased to exist and SP Group took its place. Under the new name, the company continued to be the sole electricity provider to households in Singapore.
Being a state-owned company and being the only electricity provider for all consumers in Singapore allowed SP Group to maintain a monopoly. The consumers had to pay a regulated tariff for electricity. In 2018, that was set to change. A new law was voted to liberalize the electricity market. It would allow independent companies to obtain a license for production, transportation, or retail distribution. Despite the liberalization, Singapore remains a single owner for the entire electrical grid. After 2018, more independent companies were established that began selling electricity to retail and commercial consumers.
- Present-day
The regulatory change introduced in 2018 caused SP Group to lose some of its market share in Singapore. It still markets, sells, and distributes electricity to more than a million customers in Singapore. This number accounts for approximately 60% of the entire market share with the number of consumers switching from SP Group to other retailers increasing each day. It has been a turning point in the history of Singapore Powers company but due to its subsidiaries, the organization lost only a fraction of its revenue.
In the past couple of years, SP Group began investing more into the renewable energy sector despite the fact that the only cost-viable option in Singapore is solar. Being the largest electricity company in Singapore and having access to larger funding also prompted Singapore Power to take the initiative to promote electric vehicles and partner with Hyundai Motor Group and Chevron, aiming to increase the number of charging stations available. At the same time, the company made firm commitments towards green energy and various types of projects that are aimed at reducing emissions related to energy production and consumption.
For domestic customers, Singapore Power (SP Group) still offers a regulated tariff for electricity. The company updates the tariff quarterly and independent companies use the tariff as a reference for their tariffs.
