THE price of town gas is going up for households from next month, after a rise in fuel prices.

 

City Gas, which pipes gas into roughly 50 per cent of households here, said yesterday that the gas tariff for households would be increased by 3.3 per cent from May 1 - from 21.45 cents to 22.16 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

 

This translates to an average monthly increase of 35 cents to 61 cents in gas bills for one- to five-room HDB flats, the gas supplier said. It added that other users of town gas include private properties, commercial and industrial operations.

 

Town gas is mainly used for cooking and water heating by domestic and commercial customers, while natural gas is the dominant fuel for electricity generation in Singapore.

 

Gas tariffs are reviewed every quarter based on guidelines set by the Energy Market Authority, and adjusted according to the cost of fuel for gas production, City Gas said.

 

Since January this year, the average fuel price has increased by 9.1 per cent.

 

The last three quarters, from August last year, have seen increases in gas tariffs as well.

 

Overall, gas rates have gone up from 17.99 cents per kWh to 22.16 cents per kWh since last year.