| 1. About 800,000 HDB households will receive $106 million worth of U-Save rebates in 2010. The first payout, amounting to $60 million of utility rebates, will be made in January 2010. Households will receive the second payout in July 2010. 2. 1-room and 2-room households will get $200 worth of U-Save rebates this year, which will offset more than a third (34%) of their annual utility bills on average. 4-room households will receive $150 worth of U-Save rebates, which will offset 10% of their annual utility bills on average [1]. Table 1 summarises the amount of U-Save rebates HDB households stand to receive in 2010.
Table 1: Amount of U-Save rebates for HDB households in 2010 3. The U-Save rebates are aimed at Singaporeans, and are hence restricted to flats owned by Singaporeans. Over the last few years, however, there has been an increase in the number of Singaporean-owned HDB flats which are fully-sublet, including to non-citizen tenants. 4. To better target the U-Save rebates at Singaporeans as intended, the administration of the scheme will be refined from Jan 2010, as follows:
• HDB flats which are fully sublet to non-citizens will no longer be eligible for U-Save rebates. This is similar to HDB flats which are owned by non-citizens, which are currently already not eligible for the rebates. • U-Save rebates will continue to be disbursed to Singaporean-owned HDB flats which are owner-occupied or which are sublet to citizens (i.e. with at least one citizen tenant).
5. U-Save rebates are used to offset utility charges directly. The amount of U-Save rebates in the forthcoming payout will be reflected in the utility bills for January 2010 of all eligible households. For more information on U-Save rebates, the public can call SP Services at 1800-2222-333.
6. The U-Save rebates are part of the GST Offset Package announced in Budget 2007 to help Singaporeans, especially low and middle-income households, cope with the GST increase. The U-Save rebates will cost the Government approximately $620 million over 5 years (FY2007-FY2011).
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[1] Based on households’ average utility bills as published by SP Services
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