SCT and ECIS: How Singapore's Solar Export Credit Actually Works

Singapore has two separate schemes for crediting solar electricity exported to the grid, not one, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes in solar research. Which one applies to you depends entirely on who you buy your electricity from: SP Group directly, or an Open Electricity Market retailer.

What is SCT, and why does it apply to most homeowners?

SCT (Simplified Credit Treatment) is the scheme for anyone buying electricity from SP Group at the regulated tariff, which is the default position for any homeowner who has not actively switched to a retailer. Under SCT, exported electricity is credited at the regulated tariff minus the grid charge, a fixed rate currently S$0.2581 per kWh, reviewed quarterly in step with the tariff itself.

What is ECIS, and when does it apply instead?

ECIS (Enhanced Central Intermediary Scheme) applies specifically if you buy your electricity from an Open Electricity Market retailer instead of SP Group directly, and your embedded solar capacity is under 10 MWac, which covers every residential landed home. Under ECIS, exported electricity is credited at the prevailing half-hourly wholesale electricity price (WEP), the same price paid to any electricity generator. Unlike SCT's fixed, quarterly rate, the WEP fluctuates continuously with real-time market supply and demand, so your export credit under ECIS can be higher or lower than SCT's rate at any given moment.

Why is the export rate lower than the import rate under either scheme?

SP Group's retail tariff includes network costs that fund grid infrastructure, roughly S$0.0610/kWh of the current rate. Neither SCT nor ECIS includes this component in the export credit, since maintaining the grid is a cost borne by SP Group regardless of which direction electricity flows. This gap, not a flat 'net metering' arrangement, is why self-consuming your own solar generation is worth more than exporting the same kWh under either scheme.

What does SCT credit actually look like in practice?

Using Sunnify's reference assumption of 25% self-consumption (a household using a quarter of its own generation directly, exporting the rest), here is what SCT credits alone contribute across common system sizes, based on Singapore's 1,106 kWh/kWp annual yield and the current S$0.2581/kWh rate. This is the export credit only, not total savings, since self-consumed generation saves separately at the higher S$0.3478/kWh retail rate.

These figures use a fixed 25% self-consumption assumption for comparability across sizes, and assume SCT since that applies to the large majority of homeowners on SP Group's regulated tariff. If you are on a retailer plan under ECIS instead, your actual export credit will vary with the wholesale price rather than matching this fixed figure.

How does the export credit actually reach me?

Both schemes credit exported electricity to the same place: a line item labelled "Export of electricity" on your SP Group bill, which offsets your other billable charges (electricity import, water, and refuse conservancy) rather than arriving as a separate payment. Singapore does not pay solar export as a default cash transfer, though a GIRO payout option exists for homeowners who would rather receive the money directly; it requires a separate form submitted alongside the Net Export Rebate Application.

What happens if my export credit is bigger than my bill in a given month?

The unused balance carries forward to offset future bills rather than being forfeited or capped. In practice this rarely happens: a 10kWp system earns roughly S$2,141 a year in SCT credit alone, against a typical landed household's combined electricity, water, and refuse conservancy charges of a few hundred dollars a month, so the credit is usually absorbed well before it accumulates.

It matters most for households away for extended periods with low import to offset, or for a system sized well above typical daytime consumption, since export keeps accruing even in a month with minimal electricity usage on the other side of the ledger.

Do I need to apply for either scheme myself?

No, not as a separate personal task. Registration for either SCT or ECIS goes through the same Net Export Rebate Application Form, which your installer's Licensed Electrical Worker typically submits on your behalf as part of the standard grid connection process. By the time your system is commissioned, this registration is normally already in progress or complete, though it is worth confirming with your installer directly rather than assuming.

The simplest way to check it actually went through: look for the "Export of electricity" line item on your first SP Group bill after commissioning. If it's missing after a full billing cycle, that's worth chasing with your installer rather than waiting for it to appear on its own.

Has ECIS actually paid more or less than SCT in 2026?

Less, for most of the year so far. Based on EMA's own published Uniform Singapore Energy Price (USEP) averages, the wholesale rate ECIS pays came in at roughly S$0.137/kWh in Q1 2026 and S$0.194/kWh in Q2 2026, both below SCT's fixed S$0.2581/kWh rate over the same period. Both figures move, SCT is reviewed quarterly and USEP resets every half hour, so this is a snapshot rather than a permanent ranking, but it shows ECIS's real appeal is upside during specific price spikes, not a consistently higher baseline.

Why does solar's own timing work against ECIS specifically?

Because the hours when a rooftop system exports the most are not the hours when Singapore's wholesale price is highest. Across the first half of 2026, wholesale power averaged around S$147/MWh during the 10am-4pm window, exactly when solar generation peaks, versus roughly S$185/MWh during the 7pm-11pm evening demand peak, a period when solar has already stopped generating entirely.

A solar exporter on ECIS can only ever capture the midday price, never the evening premium that pulls the headline USEP average up, so the effective rate a solar household receives tends to sit below the market-wide average quoted for USEP. SCT's flat, time-blind rate avoids this mismatch by construction.

Should I switch to a retailer to get ECIS instead of SCT?

Not for the export credit alone. Given the timing mismatch above, ECIS is not reliably better for a household exporting mostly during midday hours, which is true of almost every rooftop system, it is simply less predictable while also skewing toward the lower end of its own quoted average. Switching electricity plans is a decision worth making on its own merits, covered in Sunnify's guide to reviewing your electricity plan after solar, rather than assuming ECIS is an upgrade over SCT.

Further reading: see will I still have an electricity bill with solar for how self-consumption and export show up on a real bill, and should you change your SP Group meter option after solar for the retailer-switching decision. Run the Sunnify solar estimate to see your own export credit potential.