ACTIVITIES SUCH AS USING your computer, charging your iPhone and cooking food are possible thanks in part to some NTI pioneers. They have enabled a smooth supply of electricity and gas to millions of homes in Singapore over the past 25 years.

As a combustion engineer with the Public Utilities Board (PUB), Tan Chin Huat transferred fuel oil to the boiler for combustion at Senoko Power Station. Now, he heads the operations department at Tuas power station, the third largest electricity generator in Singapore.

Lim Khoon Huat was a turbine maintenance engineer at Senoko and Pulau Seraya power station. He was involved in restructuring the gas industry in 2003. Today, he helps to regulate it at the Energy Market Authority. Robin Tan Meng Heng heads the Security and Emergency Planning Department there. The agency was formed in 2001 to promote competition in the energy sector and ensure uninterrupted energy supply.

When these NTI pioneers graduated in 1985, electricity, water and gas were provided solely by PUB, a statutory board that took in many pioneers. They worked as combustion engineers, turbine maintenance engineers and maintenance managers.

There was a shake-up in 1995 when the electricity and gas businesses of PUB were privatised under Singapore Power, a new entity. PUB became the regulator. Then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that privatisation promoted competition, improved efficiencies and created the push to get more business.

The upheaval was unsettling. “Most PUB employees were worried about job security,” recalled Wong Moh Seng who was there. He surveyed the landscape and decided that the private sector was the place to be. He is now the Deputy General Manager with Gas Supply, a natural gas trading company. “I worked hard to understand the evolving utilities market and regulatory changes,” said Moh Seng. “I learned to be sensitive to market changes and balance between profit and risks.”

William Teh was involved in producing and distributing town gas with PUB. The restructuring saw him retain his job but with different companies. Now, he is with City Gas.