Computer glitch causes utility bill chaos in Singapore

Asian Economic News, Jan 22, 2001

SINGAPORE, Jan. 19 Kyodo

A jobless man in Singapore got a rude shock when he received a staggering utilities bill of nearly S$40,000 (US$23,000) recently.

A glitch in the computer systems at Power Supply Ltd., the state-run monopoly for electricity, and the one-stop billing agency for all utilities such as water, piped-gas and garbage collection, has resulted in months of delays and errors in utility billing in Singapore.

The problem started in the middle of last year when Power Supply, a subsidiary of Singapore Power, tried to switch to a new computer billing system to gear up for competition after the government's decision last year to liberalize the local power industry.

However, the transfer of data did not go smoothly and since July last year, customers started to complain of not receiving bills for many months while others received inflated bills.

Karim Osman, 49, received the grossly inflated bill last month after making inquiries about not receiving any bill since October.

''It was a killer bill. Anyone with a heart ailment could have collapsed on the spot,'' said Karim, who lives in a two-bedroom government-built flat with his wife and children. He said he decided to highlight his case to a local newspaper after a nerve-wracking day trying to telephone the staff of Power Supply to seek an explanation.

Power Supply found out about the case later in the day, admitted the mistake and apologized.

But the overall problem has not been resolved.

Only 88% of the 1.1 million customers are receiving their bills on time.

Power Supply has promised to normalize the situation -- by July this year.

It has caused concern among the people and some embarrassment for Singapore, which likes to think itself the most efficient country in Southeast Asia.

Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo rapped the company openly in parliament earlier this month, saying the utility had damaged its reputation.

The government slapped Power Supply with a S$150,000 fine for the billing delays and for failing to resolve the problems last month.

Many Singaporeans are disgruntled and one of their main concerns are that they might be forced to make large payments to settle the delayed bills. Some customers have already complained in letters to the local dailies about lump sums from delayed bills being deducted automatically from their bank accounts.

Thompson Teo, a lecturer in information technology at the National University of Singapore, said such problems usually due to errors when writing the program code for new systems, and inadequate testing.

But the larger and more complicated the system, the more difficult it is to detect all the faults.

Nevertheless, irate customer Ivan Loh wrote to the Straits Times saying, ''As Power Supply has a monopoly on utilities, Singaporeans cannot do much but simply hope that they do not get a bill that borders on absurdity.''