SINGAPORE: Gas tariffs for households will fall by 4.22 per cent or 0.76 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) from Jan 1 to Mar 31 next year, City Gas said on Monday (Dec 30).
This means that households will need to pay 17.23 cents per kWh, excluding Goods and Services Tax, down from 17.99 cents currently.
The decrease is due to lower fuel costs compared with the previous quarter, City Gas said.
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City Gas reviews the gas tariffs based on guidelines set by the Energy Market Authority, which has approved the gas tariffs for the three-month period.
This is due to higher energy cost compared with the previous quarter, it said.
The difference between the electricity and town gas tariffs is mainly due to the different fuel types used and their prices moving in different directions, said a spokesman from the Energy Market Authority.
Streaming service Netflix has announced a price hike for all three service tiers it offers in Singapore, to take effect from Jan 9, 2020.
The lowest tier service will go up by $1 a month, from $10.98 to $11.98. The mid-tier service will increase by $2 a month, from $13.98 to $15.98 while the top tier will climb $3 a month, from $16.98 to $19.98. All revised prices include taxes.
The tiers vary in price based on the quality of the image (standard, high or ultra-high) and the number of concurrent streams.
Singapore users had been expecting a revision after Netflix announced price hikes in the United States earlier in 2019.
Mr Leigh Wong, Netflix’s head of communications for South-east Asia, told The Straits Times that this is the service’s first price hike since the service launched in Singapore in January 2016.
“We have heavy investments in shows and we want to continue delivering great shows across all genres,” he said, explaining the hike. The increases will also fund technology improvements.
“Singaporeans are shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the tragic loss of life and injuries to six Filipinos at Lucky Plaza yesterday,” said Dr Balakrishnan in a Facebook post.
Four other people were also injured in the accident, which happened on Sunday evening.
Eyewitnesses said the car ran into several women as they stood on a walkway near the shopping centre. CCTV footage also emerged on Monday showing a car crashing into a railing where people had been standing, before landing on a service road leading out of Lucky Plaza’s car park.
Leaked CCTV footage of the Lucky Plaza accident shows a black car (circled) mounting the kerb before ramming a group of women on the footpath (top right). Two were killed and four others injured, all Filipino women working in Singapore.
“What was supposed to be a day of rest, fellowship and celebration turned into a tragedy,” said Dr Balakrishnan, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was working closely with the Philippine Embassy to help the families involved.
“Our deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. We pray for a quick recovery for the injured.”
Dr Balakrishnan said that he, along with Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower Low Yen Ling, visited the injured at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
“SPS (Manpower) Low Yen Ling and I met those who are hospitalised at Tan Tock Seng Hospital to personally convey our sympathies. We thanked them for their hard work and contributions to Singapore over many years,” he wrote.
“As we prepare to welcome the New Year with our families, it is timely to also remember the invaluable contributions of those who help in our households, provide care for our family members and sacrifice so much in order to provide for their own families far away,” added the minister.
The Philippine Embassy confirmed on Monday that one of the victims who died and another, who is critically injured, are sisters.
A photo circulating on social media of paramedics attending to victims after an accident at Lucky Plaza on Dec 29, 2019.
A cordon erected near the entrance of the Lucky Plaza apartment block after a car ran onto a walkway and knocked down pedestrians on Dec 29, 2019.
The embassy said it was coordinating with the employers of the victims on plans to have their bodies repatriated to the Philippines.
The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) has opened a channel through its Facebook page for members of the public to donate to the victims’ families.
A 64-year-old male driver was arrested on Sunday for dangerous driving causing death.
The man, who is a driver-partner with ride-hailing firm Grab, was suspended amid investigations.
SINGAPORE – One sister is dead while another has been hospitalised.
The two Nucos siblings – Arlyn, 50, who died and Arcely, 56, who was injured – were among the six victims of the Lucky Plaza accident on Sunday afternoon (Dec 29), which also killed a second woman.
All six Filipino nationals and domestic helpers were close friends.
They were gathered on a pavement along Nutmeg Road behind Lucky Plaza for early celebrations ahead of the New Year when a black Honda turned towards them, mounted a curb and crashed through a pavement railing and plunged several metres.
The car landed on the exit lane of Lucky Plaza’s carpark and it is believed the victims were flung from the pavement to the lane below as the car fell.
The other four victims – who are now at Tan Tock Seng Hospital – are aged 37 to 56.
The Straits Times understands that the second woman who died was Abigail Danao Leste, 41.
SINGAPORE: Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage purportedly showing the scene outside Lucky Plaza just before Sunday’s fatal car crash has emerged.
The video, which shows the incident from four different camera angles, began circulating on social media on Monday (Dec 30) afternoon. The footage appears to be a recording of a CCTV monitor.
On one screen, a dark-coloured car can be seen leaving the drop-off point outside the Lucky Plaza apartment block to make a U-turn. The car then accelerates across the two-lane road. The point where the car appears to crash into a railing, where people had been standing, appears on a separate screen.
The CCTV clip, which appears sped up, also shows the car landing on a service road leading out of Lucky Plaza’s car park.
The accident led to the death of two people and four injuries, all of whom were Filipinos working in Singapore.
The Philippine Embassy confirmed that the victims’ families in the Philippines had been informed.
One of the victims who died and another, who is critically injured, are sisters, Philippine Embassy charge d’affaires Adrian Bernie Candolada told CNA.
A 64-year-old male driver was arrested on Sunday for dangerous driving causing death, police said.
The man, who is a driver-partner with ride-hailing firm Grab, was suspended as investigations are underway.
Lucky Plaza is a popular gathering place for Filipino foreign domestic workers on their days off on Sundays.
Other videos circulating online show that many had been in the immediate vicinity of the accident.
A photo circulating on social media of paramedics attending to victims after an accident at Lucky Plaza on Dec 29, 2019.
Members of the public have come forward with offers of donations, a spokesperson from the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) told CNA.
“We will be giving these donations to the family of the deceased through our volunteer.”
The organisation said it has opened a channel through its Facebook page for members to donate tothe victims’ families.
The Centre for Domestic Employees said it is also planning to set up a donation channel.
A cordon erected near the entrance of the Lucky Plaza apartment block after a car ran onto a walkway and knocked down pedestrians on Dec 29, 2019.
Ms Jeanne-Marie Ten, 48, posted the payment letter of demand from the insurers’ law firm Drew & Napier sent earlier this month on her Facebook page, saying NUS is suing her for it.
The sum is for the legal costs fixed by the court that Ms Ten has to pay NUS which its insurers are seeking to enforce against her.
In the wake of Ms Ten’s FB posting, NUS issued a statement on Friday (Dec 27), saying it had expressed its reservations to the insurers about enforcing the costs orders, but “acknowledges the legal right of the insurers to act in NUS’ name”.
The statement is the latest twist in the long-running legal battle which began in August 2012.
Ms Ten, who was pursuing a Master of Arts (Architecture) by research at the NUS School of Design and Environment, had sued for the degree and damages.
StarHub and Malaysian mobile service provider U Mobile will conduct 5G standalone roaming trials in Singapore and Malaysia starting in the first quarter of next year, they said in a joint media statement on Monday (Dec 30).
The trials will be conducted in collaboration with Huawei and will be done independent of 4G network infrastructure. This is unlike many other roaming trials that use 5G non-standalone technology, the telcos said.
Use cases such as “live” cross-border holographic calls and multi-party video calls will be tested.
StarHub and U Mobile said they will examine aspects such as the “right commercial price point” for 5G roaming in both countries.
The trials will help establish key aspects such as the right network configurations and settings for 5G roaming.
StarHub’s chief technology officer, Chong Siew Loong, said: “There is no better place to start 5G roaming trials than in Malaysia, our closest neighbour and one of our customers’ top travel destinations.”
U Mobile is already a roaming partner of StarHub, and the 5G roaming trial is the third 5G-related initiative StarHub has announced in December.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) is partnering with Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings Inc to apply for a digital full banking licence in Singapore, the two companies said on Monday.
The pair in a joint statement said they will establish a consortium with Grab owning 60 per cent and Singtel holding the remainder, with the aim of offering a variety of digital banking services.
The move comes as Singapore’s biggest liberalisation of its banking sector in two decades seeks to enable online-only banks that can operate at lower costs and therefore offer different services than those of traditional lenders such as DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd.
Singtel, the region’s largest telecom operator, and Grab are among the best-known names in Southeast Asia and both have been expanding outside their traditional businesses.
Singtel has been pushing into areas such as mobile wallets and online gaming, while Grab has expanded into food delivery and a range of financial services.
SINGAPORE: Household electricity tariffs will increase by an average of 3.5 per cent for January to March 2020, said utility SP Group on Monday (Dec 30), to hit a five year high.
The rise of 0.81 cent per kWh – bringing the tariff to 24.24 cents from 23.43 cents per kWh in the previous quarter – is due to higher cost of energy, added SP Group.
This means families living in four-room HDB flats can expect their average monthly bill to go up by S$2.76.
The latest tariff will be the highest rate since the October to December period in 2014, when it was at 25.28 cents per kWh.
