today • Monday 13 March 2017

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We Set You Thinking Tweak water tariff Regulating

youth smoking
Editor
Walter Fernandez
Deputy editor hike to reflect usage through laws
is not enough
level, household type
Carl Skadian
Associate EditorS
Chua Chin Hon
Loh Chee Kong
JASON TAN
DIGital Editor
MAE LYNN TAN From Shirley Tan
visual Editor
Mugilan Rajasegeran
I refer to the article “Legal smoking
Business Editor
yang wai wai
From Seah Lay Khim the other hand, there are people who age to be raised to 21” (March 10).
sports Editor
are better-off and can contribute more Smoking, especially among the
gerard wong I refer to the Big Read article “Price for the good of all. young, is a very serious issue that
Features Editor of success? How S’pore’s water con- Hence, I wonder if there could be should be looked into from a sys-
jill alphonso ser vation message got diluted” tweaks to the way the water tariff hike tems perspective.
Voices Editor (March 11). could be imposed. Unfortunately, we are address-
Derrick A Paulo
I support the need for all Singapo- For instance, those who own pri- ing it only at an events level if we
Special Projects Editor
aRIEL tam
reans and our foreign friends living vate property and HDB flats, or mul- raise the minimum legal smoking
and working among us to appreciate tiple properties for investment, could age and then stop there. Managing
CORPORATE SERVICES • ROSALIND PNG the value of water and to do our part be imposed higher rates. the issue this way could mean we
CIRCULATION • K S Kunallan in making Singapore less reliant on Water consumption could also be a are addressing the symptom and
Editorial support • Doreen Sabai
others for water. determinant, but calculated based on not the root cause.
MediaCorp Press Ltd Support can come in the form of the number of people in the household. Singapore should take the cue
today@mediacorp.com.sg
www.facebook.com/todayonline taking active steps to conserve wa- Rather than rely on subsidies and from Iceland, which has radically
www.twitter.com/todayonline ter, and in monetary terms, such as rebates, waivers could be given to cut teenage smoking, drinking and
1 Stars Avenue, Singapore 138507 paying higher rates. families receiving help from social drug use in the past 20 years.
Tel: 6236 4888 | Fax: 6534 4217 While there are rebates and sub- service agencies. While they also changed laws to
NEWS HOTline 6822 2268 sidies given out, there are still those While these changes would involve prohibit tobacco and alcohol sales
CIRCULATION HOTline 1800 698 6329 for whom the hike in water tariffs may more work, I believe it would reflect a to youth, Iceland went one step fur-
ADVERTISING HOTline 6333 9888 cause distress, even if just slightly. On fairer and more caring society. ther in giving teenagers channels to
participate regularly in organised
activities, especially sport; ensur-
ing more time is spent with par-
Don’t punish those using water conservatively ents; showing more care for them
at school; and restricting their time
outdoors in the late evenings.
In other words, using extrin-
From Sam Lau Water prices can be tiered to us- This If water usage exceeds that of the sic means such as laws to regulate
age level for each household type. This comment was average in the same household type, personal behaviour is not enough.
I refer to the Big Read article “Price of way, households that use water con- first posted higher rates can apply. We can only address a systemic
success? How S’pore’s water conserva- servatively pay a lower price per unit on today Why punish those who are already issue through shared vision and
tion message got diluted” (March 11). used. online.com using water conservatively? shared effort.

Media Research Consultants Job dislocation due to

is urgently looking for the following:
business costs, not globalisation
Face to Face
Interviewers
Work Description:
From Liu Rijing

I refer to “Grooming S’poreans to be

global citizens who can thrive any-
• islandwide door to door project
where” (Feb 27).
• flexible hours, 3-4 nights a week The writer paints a picture of the
• either tablet survey (provided by company) future economy being less certain,
or paper & pen survey where jobs are less secure and peo-
• training will be provided ple have to have more than one job in
more than one industry.
The writer seems to imply that glo-
balisation is the reason for job dislo-
Interested party, pls sms cation.
Peter 9727 4588 for an interview appointment. But companies also shift operations
because of cost. The business model of
such firms is to minimise production
costs instead of improving their prod-
ucts and growing their market share.
Such companies will not stay in
Singapore even if our people have the
required skills. Therefore, we should
identify companies with the right busi-
ness model to invest in operations here.
Some jobs will still move abroad.
But if Singapore grooms its people to
be highly skilled, and seeks out com-
panies with the suitable business mod-
el and find it worthwhile to remain
here despite the higher labour cost,
Singaporeans can still earn a good liv-
ing here instead of having to relocate
abroad for jobs.
23 voices today • Monday 13 March 2017

Households able The trial will leverage the existing

automated meter reading system for
electricity meters to cover water and
ing solution for water and gas in our lo-
cal conditions, before any large-scale
deployment can be considered.
the average consumption of their
neighbours in similar housing types
and also with the national average, as

to use smart
town gas meters. In the meantime, SP Group will well as receive tips to save energy and
It will include the development of continue to provide consumers with water.
a mobile application to provide timely relevant information to manage Anyone who wishes to make their

electricity
and useful information to consumers
on their utilities consumption.
The trial will help us ascertain the
performance and viability, including
their utilities consumption via their homes more water-eff icient can
monthly utilities bill and the mobile call PUB’s 24-hour Call Centre at
application. 1800-CALL-PUB (1800 2255 782) to
Consumers can view their utility request for free thimbles for their taps

meter next year cost effectiveness of the smart meter- usage at a glance, compare that with and showerheads.

From Soh Sai Bor

Acting Assistant Chief Executive, Economic
Regulation Division
Energy Market Authority
Michael Toh
Director, Water Supply Network Department
PUB, the national water agency
Chuah Kee Heng
Managing Director, SP Services
SP Group

We thank Mr James Poh Ching Ping

(“Fast-track launch of meter giving
real-time water data”, March 7) on
his feedback to deploy smart meters
so that households can better manage
their utilities consumption. By the second
Smart electricity meters have been half of 2018,
deployed for business consumers who the Energy
are buying electricity from electricity Market
retailers of their choice. Authority
By the second half of 2018, the En- will launch
ergy Market Authority will launch Full Retail
Full Retail Competition to empower Competition
the remaining electricity consumers, to empower
mostly households, to choose their the remaining
electricity retailers. They will also electricity
have the option of using smart elec- consumers,
tricity meters. mostly
We are also embarking on a pilot households, to
scheme with PUB and SP Group to ex- choose their
tend smart metering for water supply electricity
and town gas. retailers.

Higher vehicle taxes will

increase business costs

From Peter Yu

I disagree with one point in the let-

ter “Offer public transport subsi-
dies to help S’pore become car-lite”
(March 11), where the writer suggest-
ed raising taxes for private vehicles as
one alternative to reforming the public
transport fare structure.
The vehicle population on the roads
is controlled by the Certificate of En-
titlement system, and higher taxes
should not be used as a way to divert
people to public transport.
If taxes keep being raised, they will
drive up costs for the business com-
munity, which in turn, could affect
Singapore’s economy.