Based on data presented by International Energy Consultants Managing Director and lead consultant Dr. John Morris, the top 5 countries with the highest power rates surveyed in Asia are Japan (P12.31 per kWh); Philippines (P8.96 per kWh); Singapore (P8.83 per kWh; Hong Kong (P6.53 per kWh); and Thailand (P6.23 per kWh).
Let’s see how expensive they are with the top 3 countries below:
1. Japan
The catastrophic nuclear plant disaster in 2011 that occurred as a result of the Tohoku earthquake in Fukushima caused the energy supply in Japan to go through a period of darkness, severely affected by the closure of the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The disaster has left Japan, which has been placing 30% of its dependence on nuclear power sources, forced to find other ways to cover supplies. The Fukushima incident caused public confidence in the use of nuclear energy to plummet, resulting in pressure to stop the operation of the nuclear plant. As of May 2019, only 5 nuclear power plants in Japan are allowed to operate, compared to 39 before the disaster to ensure incidents do not recur.
This situation increases the cost of electricity supply in Japan due to the difficulty for them to cover the supply, exacerbated by the monthly price adjustments made depending on world oil prices.
For every 1kWh in Japan, the price paid is around RM1.21 for residential users, far from leaving the Philippines behind.
2. Philippines
A few years ago, the Philippines became the country with the most expensive electricity rates before it was overtaken by Japan. This is acknowledged by their main supplier body Meralco-thus requiring electricity tariff adjustments to be made every month in the country.
Not only high tariffs and changes frequently implemented, but Filipinos are also facing aa 12% increase in consumption tax on their total bills every month.
Because adjustments are made so frequently over the 1 kWh rate of consumption in the Philippines, it is quite difficult for us to get an accurate figure on the price to be paid. For May 2020, every 1kWh will be charged RM0.75, different from the April 2020 rate of RM0.77 cents for 1kWh.
3. Singapore
Changes to the electricity supply system in Singapore were overhauled in November 2018, with the opening of the OEM or Open Electricity Market system where 12 more suppliers were allowed to compete with the previous major body, Singapore Power (SP) to help lower costs.
As of April 2020, a total of 12 companies have offered services that allowed consumers to choose their preferred provider. Due to that, companies started offering supplier based on prescribed package, either through permanent 1 kWh price agreement throughout the duration for longer contracts, lower prices could be offered.
In addition, there are also suppliers that offer unlimited fixed prices for monthly rates allowing consumers to use as much electricity without having to worry about the number of bills that will be obtained.
On average, for every 1kWh of electricity used, consumers in Singapore have to pay between RM0.53 TO RM0.55, if using a regular calculation plan. The standard tariff price supervised by SP as the ceiling prices is RM 0.71 cent.
Sources: Globalpetroprices.com, Manilastandard.net, Value champion.sg, HKelectric.com, Clp.com.hk,