hmm.. i'm not sure about that so i wun comment abt it..
but what they are doing now is that the singapore power market is
governed by the Energy Market Authority, and under it there's the
Energy Market Company(EMC).. EMC is in charge of the sales of
electricity from the generation companies(aka genco) to the
consumers..
between the gencos and the consumers, there is the transmission and
distribution system(aka transco), run by SP PowerGrid, basically
its the wiring business.. the gencos are the part which the temasek
holdings is selling becoz the transco is run by them still.. and
without wire, no electricity.. so basically, the govt still
directly in control of the system.. the transco will remain a
monopoly becoz its not feasible to let two companies run two
different cable systems all over singapore as wires are
undergrd.
how the gencos sell electricity is not "i want sell how much per
unit, i sell".. the gencos have to sign agreements with EMC to take
part in the bidding system before they are allowed to generate..
and as i mentioned, lowest bidder sells his electricity to the
public.. and this bidding is half-hourly bid system.. they will
send in 48 sets of bids(meaning for 1day).. and the lowest bidder
will sell..
this way, they are in control of the whole thing, just that they
see who can sell the cheapest priced energy.. they choose not to
lower the rates for a few possible reasons..
one of them is coz monopolies do not have incentives to cut
costs during generation, eg, use more efficient generators, buy
better equipment, whereas for pte companies, lower cost = more
profit..
Well purpledragon seems to be looking at the issue with a
bureaucratic eye. With his 'gencos have to do this' and 'have to do
that', he is assuming Chinese corporations are willing to play by
our rules. That things will happen the way they are supposed to.
And that when things go wrong, our leeders can take them on.
Remember Suzhou?
purpledragon also made a logical flaw in his argument.
'the gencos are the part which the temasek holdings is selling
becoz the transco is run by them still.. and without wire, no
electricity.. so basically, the govt still directly in control of
the system.. '
Well purpledragon, let me present my case using Economics 101.
And I will keep things simple without all that technical jargon you
spouted...
Anyone remember the supply - demand chain they studied in
school? Using the vegetables market as an example. If Malaysia (the
supplier) jacks up the price of the vegs they sell to the market
hawkers (middlemen or distributer), the consumers (us) WILL end up
paying more! We have seen it happen before. Unless the market
hawkers absorb the extra cost for us.
Moral of the story: What the supplier does to the price of goods
at their end of the supply chain will affect the consumer at the
other end.
In the case of our power plants, does anyone here seriously
think the PAP will want to absorb the extra costs for us
if China jacks up the price? purpledragon is writing from a
bureaucratic perspective: assuming the government will be
benevolent and look out for our best interests and ensures lowest
price. Yeah, right...
And don't cite commercial laws supposedly in place to prevent
price fixing. Like I said, do you think China will play by our
rules?
Remember Suzhou?
purpledragon's lower cost = more profit does not make sense
here. It may be true that when you are selling items like t-shirts,
low prices will attract more customers and hence more money coming
in.
But in the case of the power plants... Like what another
forumner pointed out: If they lower the price, we still need
electricity. If they jack up the price, we still need electricity.
Either way, we need electricity. And you don't think they will jack
up their prices to maximise profits??
And don't give me the crap about 'privatising'. Even if they
sell to 3 different Chinese companies, anyone with a brain can see
through this wayang. All Chinese corporations either work with the
Communist Party or at least have some Party officials on their
board of directors.
Gee... You don't think they will close ranks and do a little
price fixing?
Crew