Question
Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the projected take-up rate of the Energy Efficiency Grant for local SMEs in the food services, food manufacturing, and retail sectors considering the dampened investment appetite due to inflationary pressures and the uncertain economic outlook; and (b) whether the Ministry has been supporting local SMEs in such sectors to take up energy efficient equipment and, if so, how.
Written Answer by Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong
1. Amidst global inflationary pressures and the more challenging business environment, the Government introduced a slew of measures to help enterprises tide over these challenging times and adapt to the new operating environment. This includes the Energy Efficiency Grant that supports local SMEs in the Food Services, Food Manufacturing and Retail sectors to invest in energy efficient equipment as businesses in these sectors tend to have a larger electricity component in their overall business costs. We do not have specific projections of the levels of take-up. However, we hope that the substantial support of up to 70% will persuade more companies to kickstart their transition towards greater energy efficiency and longer-term financial and environmental sustainability.
2. The Energy Efficiency Grant complements other Government efforts to help SMEs be more energy efficient. For example, the National Environment Agency (NEA)’s Energy Efficiency Fund supports SMEs in the Manufacturing sector to adopt energy efficient technologies. The Energy Efficiency Technology Centre (EETC), which is a collaboration between NEA and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), also helps to build up energy efficiency capabilities among local industrial SMEs and upskill engineers or energy efficiency practitioners. Building owners including SMEs are also eligible for co-funding support to retrofit and raise the energy performance of their existing buildings under the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)’s Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings 2.0 (GMIS-EB 2.0).