The strange thing about U-Save rebates

Every month, I received my water bill from SP before receiving my electricity bill from Geneco. I save all my bills coz, um, I just do.

Then one day, I happened to see something odd in my April 2025 bills.

Before I continue, some background:

1. The water meter outside our house is read every even month; so the bills for January, March etc are estimated numbers.
2. The government provides U-Save rebates every quarter from January.
3. Given the timing of my two bills, U-Save is first used for SP with the remaining going to Geneco. I have more than enough rebate to cover water bill so there's definitely leftover rebate.
4. U-Save usage is summarised in the SP bill; the Geneco bill just indicates U-Save as a credit item.

In my April 2025 SP bill, however, I found that the U-Save rebate used was more than my bill, with the result that I had less U-Save to offset my Geneco bill that month.

When I asked SP where the money had gone to, SP said that the missing money was used for March 2025 water taxes+GST, which I had already paid for by the way. I paste the exact wording here:

We would like to explain that as the utilities charges for your even month bills are estimated*, the total Waterborne Fee (WBF) and Water Conservation Tax (WCT), inclusive of GST, will be credited back to the account in the subsequent odd month bill when the actual meter readings are taken. 

 

The U-Save amount will subsequently used to offset the total WBF and WCT charges for the two months, as well as the other utilities charges (water charges) for the billing month.

* My even months are actually not estimated! As stated in the background, my meter reading happens in even months; I have seen a guy walking by to record numbers...

I checked that the missing money was credited to my May bill, as expected after SP's reply. So I understand the maths but not the why. 

Maybe my tax rate is straightforward but some households may use so much water that their estimated bill is taxed at a higher rate and so, somehow, they need to recalculate water taxes after they have the actual reading?? 

But the point is, it's already paid. And, as I think about it, that should not affect the calculation. In months with no U-Save rebates, life also still goes on, right?? I really don't understand why this only happens in non-estimated months with rebates...

SP also said that "(t)his is to allow customers to fully benefit from the U-save rebates."

Simigui...!

How does this "allow customers to fully benefit from the U-save rebates" when (a) I have already paid the bill of the previous month including water taxes, and (b) I have to pay more upfront for my Geneco bill in the same month due to the U-Save being withheld for something I've already paid for, instead of having the full remaining rebates to offset it?

Ok, it's not a large sum and I get the full rebate in the end but that's not the point of my query. Seriously, what do they mean by allowing customers to fully benefit from the rebates when it's like withholding the rebates in April so I end up paying more for the rebates month when the bills could be better evened out over April and May??

These rebates are meant to offset utilities. I think it's more useful for families to spread out their costs evenly than to pay more upfront and then less the following month. I'm just glad I'm not running a tight household budget..

I really don't understand why they do this kind of messy accounting. It's a hassle for me to have to refer to three bills - March (for the water taxes), April (rebates month) and May (refund for March water taxes) - to track everything is in place.

So what did I do? I diligently created an excel table detailing the bills and U-Save rebates from January 2024. This practice appeared to have started back in October 2024. And it only happened when the U-Save rebate falls in a non-estimated month. That means I have to tally my numbers twice a year, for September-November and for March-May.

Anyway, I have written back to SP but haven't received a reply. I have also written to MOF but it looks like a feedback form so no idea if anyone will actually read it.

Aaaand it's now over a year ago... I started writing this last year but didn't have time to finish it and forgot about it until I was cleaning up my posts recently...

I'll be very happy if someone can enlighten me on this weird accounting 🙏 

PS: For anyone reading this who is interested to check your own bills:

1. Assuming your U-Save rebate is more than your SP bill, note the amount in the last line "This amount will be used to offset your next bill" under the table "Summary of Charges"
2. Refer to the amount in the last line "Closing Balance" under the table "Summary of U-Save"
3. If the amounts are not the same, the difference is due to water taxes in the previous bill.