After obtaining your licence from the EMA, you can start your registration process with EMC. In the wholesale electricity market, people who buy, sell or provide services for the market are generally called market participants. The direct market consumer is a market participant, alongside generators and retailers.

When registering with EMC, you must meet a range of obligations and criteria specified by the Singapore Electricity Market Rules and the Electricity Act (Cap 89A):

You need an electricity licence from the EMA.

The Market Rules act as a contract between you and EMC. You need to fully understand these Rules and their obligations for your company.

You need a contractual agreement with the PSO (a part of the EMA). The PSO is responsible for ensuring the security of supply of electricity to consumers and arranging for the secure operation of the transmission system.

Please contact Loh Poh Soon at +65 6872 7335.

You need a contractual agreement with the MSSL (currently this is SP Services). The MSSL is responsible for reading electricity meters to ensure that market participants’ transactions are correctly settled by EMC.

You must open a consumer account with the MSSL and submit the security deposit for market support services charges and transmission services charges. You must also set up an electronic business transaction (EBT) system terminal for transferring the relevant information and invoices to and from the MSSL or EMC.

Please contact the MSSL for information.

You need a contractual agreement with SP PowerAssets. SP PowerAssets is responsible for development and maintenance of the transmission grid in Singapore. To buy electricity from the wholesale market, you need a connection with the grid so that you can draw energy for your usage. In the NEMS, SP PowerAssets offers a Consumer Connection Agreement (CCA) to all existing consumers who become contestable. New consumers who are contestable and request new connections are required to enter into a CCA with SP PowerAssets. Regardless of whether you are a new or an existing consumer, you are required to provide a security deposit under this agreement.

Please contact the MSSL for information.

You need some basic IT systems to communicate reliably and securely with EMC’s systems. These technical requirements include one personal computer equipped with Microsoft Windows 2000 software, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher, and a connection to the Internet.

The wholesale market is a daily settlement market where you pay for today's trade in 20 days. This is different from the monthly settlement provided by SP Services and the retailers. You should consider the financial impact of this 20-day settlement on your cash flow.

To ensure the financial integrity of the market, we need to secure enough money in advance to cover a 20-day trade cycle plus any extra time needed to settle disputes and payment defaults. Therefore, we need enough financial security from you to cover 30 days of trade before we can register you as a participant. This security can be provided in cash, in Singapore Government Treasury Bills, in Bankers Guarantee or in any combination of these three forms. We will help you calculate the initial financial security we require.

Example of financial security requirement:
If the average wholesale electricity price is $100 per MW and your average half-hour consumption, i.e., each trading period in the market, is 3MW, then your financial security would be about $450,000. However, since the prices can vary significantly from period to period, EMC may call on you at any time to top up this amount within two days if your security becomes insufficient.

This top-up call (margin call) is made when your unpaid trades touch 70% of your financial security held by EMC. In this example, a margin call would be made once your unpaid purchases touch $315,000 and the amount to top up would depend on your expected trade.

You need a resolution from your company directors to participate in the market.

EMC is happy to work with you to understand these requirements and put you in touch with the right parties to discuss them. We need all the above documentation before we can register you as a direct market consumer.