Online petition to PM Lee Hsien Loong to lower utility fees

robertteh SG

Dear Forumers,

Sorry about a certain technical error. Petition is now re-posted for your reading and signing.

Please forward this petition to as many people as possible for their support and sign it.

In my opinion, citizens should help themselves now as few people will do so if they do not help themselves to make changes.

Active citizenry could set as example to want to make changes. They should try to help the unfortunate fellow-citizens who are struggling to make ends meet. Who knows, one day we might need this kind of emergency assistance.

In any event, by being collective in posting or petitioning reasonable requests, we could check on government high-cost and other draconian policies.

http://www.petitiononline.com/rs123457/petition.html

Li Ka Shing SG

Hi....I know u all mean well, but these petitions will be bad for Singapore. Please give it a thought.

Economics will be mixed with politics.

It would be a populist policy, if these petitions are implemented.

Populist policy will make a nation collapse. Sooner or later. It does no good at all. It ruins the economy as well as the society.

By implementing this, the utility company will have to disregard economics and market based principles, and will incur loss/ inefficiency.

It also encourage welfarism among the populace.

And induce labour market inefficiency/ ineffectiveness.

The intrusion of the political hand will make the invisible market hand weak.

I know some of u are concerned abt unemployed and tough times. But the govt is towards the right direction, with workers retraining programs and setting up job-matching centres.

Plus if people are really in need and cant pay bills, they can approach the already available channels, either the government linked ones, or private from charity organizations.

Thats the more right way to go. Dont go down the other path.

robertteh SG

Currently all the government services are priced at full market prices and in some cases above market prices: e.g. utility services, housing, are charged at super-inflated prices because they included land costs and fixed asset costs which were already paid for by the taxpayers from taxations.

Other high government fees and charges are causing hardship to the citizens not just the lower income groups but middle income group as well e.g medicare, transportation, port dues and handling, stamp fees etc.

Under such a market-based fees and charges, and double-charging on land and fixed costs, government is making profits and all the taxes collected accumulate into huge surpluses stifling the growths of the economy.

The economy has been going downhill since the 1997s. The final return to positive growth in GDP in 2005 is a mere blip due to correction from prolonged recession and some external world recovery.

Our economy has not been upgraded to value-adding advanced technology model like that of Asian Tigers and does not look set to grow further because the essential services are charged way too high due to lands and other asset costs being charged again.

Which is a better way to go - stifling our economic growth due to land-inflated government fees and charges or reverse the past creative accounting and policy mistakes and make fundametal adjustments and let economy grow again?

robertteh SG

Many people are keeping quiet, including MPs, NMPs, news media, NGOs, scholars working in various ministries about our citizens' unemployment and high costs and other problems.

The economy has not yet re-structured to a value-adding high-technology model capable of competing successfully with other Asian tigers or Finland or Switzerland.

If there is anything that can be done about our moribund econmic performance (for now, it is being justified by half-truths from the media as doing well), it will be in my opinion through lowering our increasingly worsened high costs e.g. Utility fee increases (creating paranoid fears about water and oil), HDB (via creative accounting) double-charge on lands and LTA's triple charges on vehicle excise/COE/ERP etc. (creating paranoid fear created about road congestion)

We can start putting up online petitions at : petitiononline.com and ask for changes with specific recommendations discussed and agreed here and at other forums.

If we don't do anything, in our society, no one will do anything for us citizens.

If the leaders try to stonewall suggestions and there is no results and problems remain unsolved, we can start more online petitions to ask for reserves to be used in a way that benefit in lowering costs or ask for changes of key-personnel e.g. Cabinet, Ministries, GIC and Temasek.

We as citizens can do something and can make the difference but we should have common goals and understanding how to present them !!

claudetnt SG

robertteh:

you should extend this petition to include medical charges at polyclinics and hospitals. we are told time and again that medicines and medical charges are subsidised but i have i real doubts about all these after having had experienced that some of these charges are actually inflated. Now, i get my medicines from across the causeway and its so much cheaper and better since i am a "regular" i get it sent to my house and its still cheaper than if i get from the polyclinics / hospitals.

robertteh SG

A good strategy should be to make out a case of inflated government fees and charges and NKF type of building up reserves with false figures and creative accounting which do not benefit the citizens. The approach now till the election will be to ask for specific assistance one item at a time. If we ask too many items, they will say that they will incur deficits and that will become a weaker case and they must increase taxes although very often in the past such claims of incurring deficits were based on assumptions and not true.

fymk SG

Since when a petition ever works?

Petition or no petition - it would not change .

robertteh SG

I know this fact. If we don't try, it will be worse as then all the citizens will be taken for granted. Rummel's law says that a government is more likely to murder its people who offer the least resistance.

claudetnt SG

robertteh:

i tend to agree with you here we have nothing to loose so why not just try? we have been quiet for much too long / crawled and bend backwards so its time to stand up be counted!

robertteh SG

It is good to know that despite salmanisation by those who are here to neutralise our criticisms of wrong doings or policies or depoticise us, civic community is alive here. There are quite a number here able to speak up courageously against NKF or other wrong doings without fear or favor.

I think there is nothing to fear as we are apolitical only exercising our civic rights and speak courageiously. Thanks for supporting such civic consciousness here.

dragg SG

utilities save provided for last month!!!

robertteh SG

Cost of generating electricity is between $0.09 - $012 per kilowatt-hour. The current Power Supply billing for electricity is $0.17-$0.21 per kilowatt-hour depending on oil prices inclusive of networking costs (partly exempted for extra-high-tension supply) and land/infrastructure costs already paid for by the taxpayers some years ago.

A more reasonable electricity charge would be in the region of $0.12 - $0.15 in the current oil-spike situation which will still allow the utility companies to cover costs of operation with some profits without giving inflated high profits to the government. The government should have granted a credit on the land and fixed infrastructure assets to the utility companies upon handing over the facilities to them or corporatising PS as a private entity.

In view of such creative accounting practices being rampant, I am inviting you to send this post to as many friends and fellow citizens to ask for a rebate on the current utility charges to reverse the unwarranted land and fixed asset/networking charges.

reyes SG

roberteh should go for election. i vote for you.
i agree totally with what you said. indeed we are overcharge in our utility bills.
whether or not the petition works or not is not the main concern. at least we sent the message to the govt ministries that singaporean dont keep quiet and follow blindly.

robertteh SG

Thanks for your suggestion. I am apolitical by nature and will not make a good politician. So I will be contented with playing my part as a citizen or armchair critic giving my two-cent worth on issues and problems. I am sure when all of us know NKF is wrong and can make our views heard without being salmanised we are already achieving something and paving the way for problems to be solved some days.

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