The cheapest SP bill payment method for almost everyone is eGIRO. It costs nothing, it auto-deducts the bill from your bank account each month so you never trip a late fee, and for Singaporeans and PRs it usually waives the refundable security deposit on a new account, which can be $40 to $400. PayNow QR through the SP app is the best free option if you would rather pay by hand. Credit cards still work for residential SP accounts in 2026, but the banks have stripped almost all rewards off utility spend, so paying by card mostly earns you nothing extra. This guide ranks every way to pay your SP utilities bill by real cost, shows where the rewards actually survive, and walks through doing it in the SP app.
SP Group bills your electricity, water and town gas on one monthly statement, and it gives you a stack of ways to settle it. They are not equal. Some are free and automatic, one quietly removes a deposit, and a few add a fee or earn you nothing. Here is the full list with the catch on each, so you can pick once and stop thinking about it.
The order below is what we would choose for a normal household: lowest cost first, least admin first. The figures are from SP Group's own residential payment pages, current as of June 2026.
| Method | Fee to you | Automatic? | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| eGIRO | Free | Yes | Usually waives the security deposit; takes up to 48 hours to approve |
| PayNow QR (SP app) | Free | No | QR is single-use and expires 11:59pm the day you generate it |
| Internet banking / bank app | Free | No | You key in the SP account number each time |
| Credit / debit card (SP app) | Free at SP | Optional recurring | Banks have removed almost all rewards on utilities |
| AXS station / AXS app | Free | No | Manual, monthly |
| DBS / POSB / OCBC ATM | Free | No | Manual, and you have to be at an ATM |
| 7-Eleven counter | Free | No | Not available for account numbers starting with 93 |
| Third-party card platform (e.g. CardUp) | ~1.79%-2.6% | Optional | Only worth it for a sign-up bonus; CardUp does not bill SP directly |
GIRO has been the quiet best answer to bill payment in Singapore for years, and eGIRO is the modern, digital version of it. You set it up once inside the SP app or the SP Utilities portal, it gets approved in around 48 hours, and from then on SP deducts the exact bill from your linked bank account on the due date. No reminders to chase, no late fees, no logging in every month.
The bigger money saver is the deposit. When you open a new SP account, SP holds a refundable security deposit against unpaid bills, scaling from roughly $40 for a one or two-room HDB flat up to about $400 for larger private property, and roughly double that for foreigners. SP treats a GIRO arrangement as lower risk, so Singaporeans and PRs can usually have that cash deposit waived entirely by signing up for eGIRO when they open the account. That is real money you keep in your own account instead of parking it with SP for the length of your stay.
There is one moving-out detail worth knowing. SP automatically terminates the GIRO arrangement after it raises your final bill, then nets your deposit against any closing charges and refunds the balance, so you do not have to remember to cancel it. If you want the full picture on setting up, the deposit and closing the account, see our deeper guide to SP Services and utilities.
If you would rather see and approve every bill yourself, PayNow QR is the cleanest free option, and it lives inside the SP app. You open the Bills tab, choose the bill, pick PayNow QR, confirm which utilities account you are paying, and download the generated code. Then you open your own bank app, upload that QR, and the payment clears in seconds.
Two things to know about the QR so you do not get caught out. It is single-use, and it expires at 11:59pm Singapore time on the day you generate it, so download and pay in one sitting rather than saving it for the weekend. SP only issues these codes inside the SP app; it never sends a payment QR by email or SMS, so treat any that arrives that way as a scam. Before you confirm, check the payee reads SP Services Limited.
The other free manual routes are internet banking or your bank app (add SP Services as a billing organisation and key the account number), AXS stations and the AXS app, and DBS, POSB or OCBC ATMs. You can also pay at a 7-Eleven counter, with one quirk: it does not work for SP account numbers that start with 93. None of these charge you a fee, but all of them put the late-fee risk back on your memory, which is the whole reason eGIRO usually wins.
Short version: barely. Two things changed the game. From 1 November 2025 SP stopped accepting credit and debit cards for non-domestic (business) accounts and told those customers to move to eGIRO; residential accounts can still pay by card on the SP app, so for a normal home the card option has not disappeared. The real problem is the banks. Utilities sit under merchant category code 4900, and almost every Singapore card now excludes that code from cashback and miles, so paying your SP bill on most cards earns you exactly nothing.
A handful of cards still pay something, and a couple of SP-specific promotions are genuinely worth it if your bill is large enough. Verify the live terms before you commit, since card rates and SP promotions change often; the figures below are as of June 2026. For the broader picture on which cards still reward everyday spend, compare our pick of the best rewards credit cards in Singapore.
Be wary of the workaround everyone suggests: routing the bill through a third-party platform like CardUp to earn miles. The admin fee runs around 1.79% to 2.6%, which usually costs more than the rewards are worth, and CardUp does not support SP Group payments directly anyway. It only makes sense to chase a one-off card sign-up bonus, never as a standing habit.
| Card / route | What you earn on SP | Worth it when |
|---|---|---|
| UOB One Card (with promo) | Up to ~4.33% cashback on SP bills | Bill is $120+/month and you meet the One Card spend tiers |
| OCBC 365 | Up to 3% on recurring electricity bills | You meet the minimum spend and stay under the cap |
| AMEX True Cashback | 1.5% flat cashback | You want simple cashback with no category games |
| Most other cards | Nothing (utilities excluded) | Never for rewards; only for autopay convenience |
| CardUp / third-party | Miles minus ~1.79%-2.6% fee | Only to hit a card sign-up bonus, as a one-off |
The SP app (formerly the SP Utilities app) is more than a pay button. It is where your bill, your usage and your rebates all live, and using it well is how you stop a creeping bill from becoming a year-end shock.
The features that actually help you spend less are the ones tied to usage, not the ones tied to payment.
Before you tap pay, it helps to know what you are paying for, because most of the line items are not set by SP at all. SP delivers the utilities and collects the money, but the prices are set by regulators: the Energy Market Authority for electricity and gas, and PUB for water.
For 1 April to 30 June 2026 the regulated electricity tariff is 29.72 cents per kWh with GST, town gas is 23.89 cents per kWh with GST, and water starts at $1.43 per cubic metre before the conservation tax and waterborne fee stack on top. A typical four-room HDB household lands somewhere around $150 to $250 a month across all three, with air-conditioning the biggest swing. The exact tariff breakdown sits in our average water and electricity bill explainer, and you can drop your monthly total into a personal budget so a rising bill surfaces early.
If a bill goes unpaid past the due date, SP can impose a late-payment charge, and a long-overdue account risks supply disconnection followed by a reconnection charge to turn it back on. On eGIRO none of that happens as long as the linked account has funds, which is the practical reason it ranks first. If you pay manually, set a calendar reminder for the due date rather than relying on memory.
If you move your electricity to an Open Electricity Market retailer, SP still delivers the power and may still bill your water and gas, so you can end up with two bills and two payment setups. Some retailers bill through SP, others bill you directly and offer their own deposit waiver for recurring card payment. Before switching mainly for a lower rate, check who you will be paying and how, and weigh it against the regulated tariff in our electricity retailer comparison.
If you want one clean answer rather than a menu, here it is. This is the setup that costs the least over a full tenancy and needs the least attention.
eGIRO. It is free, it auto-deducts the bill each month so you never incur a late fee, and for Singaporeans and PRs it usually waives the refundable security deposit when you open a new account. PayNow QR through the SP app is the best free option if you prefer to approve each bill by hand. Both beat paying by card, since most Singapore cards no longer reward utility spend.
Yes, for residential SP accounts you can still pay by credit or debit card in the SP app. From 1 November 2025 SP stopped accepting cards for non-domestic (business) accounts. The catch for everyone is that utilities sit under merchant code 4900, which most Singapore banks exclude from cashback and miles, so paying your SP bill by card usually earns you nothing extra.
Open the SP app, go to the Bills tab and select Pay, choose PayNow QR, confirm the utilities account and amount, then download the generated QR code. Open your own bank app, upload that QR and confirm the payee reads SP Services Limited. The code is single-use and expires at 11:59pm the same day, and SP only issues it inside the app, never by email or SMS.
For Singaporeans and PRs, usually yes. SP holds a refundable deposit of roughly $40 to $400 against new accounts, scaling with property type, and treats a GIRO arrangement as lower risk, so it commonly waives the cash deposit when you sign up for eGIRO at account opening. Foreigners pay roughly double the deposit and cannot always have it waived. SP confirms your exact figure when you apply.
Around 48 hours. You apply inside the SP app or the SP Utilities portal with Singpass, and the bank arrangement is typically approved within two days. Set it up as soon as your account is open rather than the day a bill falls due, so the first deduction has time to go through. Keep enough money in the linked account on the due date, because a failed deduction can still trigger a late charge.
SP can impose a late-payment charge once a bill passes its due date, and an account left unpaid for long enough risks supply disconnection, after which a reconnection charge applies to restore it. On eGIRO this does not happen as long as the linked bank account has funds, which is the main reason it is the safest setup. If you pay manually, set a reminder for the due date each month.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.