The Demand Side Management (DSM) Sandbox was launched by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) in October 2022 and interested companies can participate in the Sandbox from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. 

The DSM Sandbox enhances the Demand Response (DR) and Interruptible Load (IL) programmes in the Singapore Wholesale Electricity Market and incentivises companies to reduce their electricity consumption during periods of high wholesale electricity prices and/or when there is tight supply. 

The compliance thresholds and penalty amount for DR has been lowered during the sandbox period to encourage more commercial and industrial companies to optimise their energy usage.
During this period, all Load Registered Facilities (LRFs) will continue to be subjected to the existing compliance thresholds and penalty amounts via the Automatic Financial Penalty Scheme (AFPS) daily. If the participant assesses that it should not have been penalised or the penalty amount should have been lower under the DSM Sandbox scheme, it can submit the penalty refunds request to the EMA and EMC. 

Following the launch of DSM Sandbox, the registered capacity of DR facilities as of 1 July has increased by 36.7 percent as compared to when the DSM Sandbox was implemented on 1 January. Companies keen to participate in the sandbox may register their interest with the EMA here. The table below shows the refunds made to LRFs since the implementation of the DSM Sandbox in January 2023.