Power cuts: ‘The whole nation will cough blood’

NAMIBIA Local Business Association (Naloba) vice president Peter Amadhila says the business community is shocked by the announcement of a power-cut schedule for local authorities and regional electricity distributors which have defaulted on payments to the Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower).

NamPower yesterday published a notice, announcing it would implement a power disconnection schedule for the Northern Regions Electricity Distributor (Nored), the //Kharas Regional Council, and 18 local authorities.

NamPower said the entities collectively owe the corporation a billion Namibia dollars.

Nored provides electricity to the Kunene, Omusati, Oshana, and Ohangwena regions, part of the Oshikoto region, the two Kavango regions and the Zambezi region.

The affected local authorities south of the veterinary cordon fence (redline) are the Rehoboth Town Council, Mariental municipality, Karasburg Town Council, Gobabis municipality, Aranos Town Council and the Maltahöhe Village Council.

Others are Gibeon, Bethanie, Tses, Koës, Leonardville, Berseba, Kalkrand, Stampriet, Gochas, Witvlei and Aroab village councils, as well as the City of Windhoek, Groot Aub and Brakwater.
The affected local authorities had a population of 106 000 people in 2011.

NamPower in the notice said it would start with the suspension of power supply to defaulting customers on 5 June.
“ . . . unless the outstanding overdue amounts are settled before this date,” NamPower said in its notice.
Amadhila says Naloba condemns this move “in its entirety”.

STAGES OF DARKNESS

According to NamPower’s power disconnection plan, which has been widely circulated in the media, there are nine power-cutting stages, starting with four hours a week, and escalating to over eight hours a day if full payment is not made during the various stages.

NamPower said the list of defaulting clients will change from time to time as customers bring their accounts up to date.

“Everyone can see the negative consequences of power cuts supplemented by the current power tariff hikes.

“Businesses in general would collapse, unemployment would escalate, poverty and theft would sharply rise, the entire nation will just cough blood,” Amadhila says.

He says authorities owing NamPower is not a new issue.
“The issue of debt exists and will continue to exist even in developed economies,” he says.

“The real pressure is coming from South Africa . . . to terminate the power purchase agreement with Namibia as a result of introducing load-shedding in South Africa,” Amadhila says.

‘REVIVE POWER PROJECTS’

He says a solution would be to revive the national power projects that were created by the founding president, such as the Epupa hydropower project and the Kudu gas power project.

“Those important power projects could have made sure our country is self-reliant and the cost is affordable to citizens and businesses,” he says.

Amadhila says NamPower must be honest about introducing power cuts.

“It is not because of indebted local authorities, but rather because of the enormous pressure from South Africa to terminate the power purchase agreement so that South Africans can alleviate load-shedding,” he says.

PAYMENT PLANS

Nored chief executive officer Fillemon Nakashole yesterday referred The Namibian to company spokesperson Simon Lukas, who said: “We will clarify our position in the course of the week. I am not in a position to comment on that now.”

Rehoboth Town Council spokesperson Desire Pieters said the council has not received an official notice from NamPower.
“We just saw the notice in the newspaper. All we can say is ‘no comment’,” she said.

Cenored spokesperson Charlie Matengu said as an electricity distributing company, they are obliged to fulfil their mandate by making sure electricity accounts are paid.

“We make sure – even if it means we have to delay our own salaries to pay our electricity bills. Cenored will not hesitate to do that.
“Electricity cut-off is a situation we have never experienced. There won’t be interruptions on our side,” he said.

He said the affected areas will experience a negative impact.
“You can imagine businesses that are into perishable goods and tourism. Very bad situation, however, I urge people to come up with a payment plan with NamPower to be safe from power cut-offs. And do not default on that plan,” Matengu said.
RUNNING AT A LOSS

The Namibian last week reported that the national power utility will suspend electricity supply to defaulting customers from 5 June – unless these customers settle their full outstanding amounts before this date.

NamPower spokesperson Tangeni Kambangula in a statement said the power utility’s customers owe it over a billion Namibia dollars.
It was also reported that NamPower was unable to pay interest on its loans last year and risks the possibility of lenders demanding an immediate repayment of N$517 million.

Its operations were running at a loss of N$2,3 billion, meaning the N$6,5 billion the utility collected from selling electricity was not enough to cover its expenses.

BULK POWER PRICE HIKE

NamPower was recently given the green light by the Electricity Control Board (ECB) to increase its bulk power price tariffs next month. The increase will see a rise from the current tariff rate of N$1,82 per kilowatt-hour to N$1,98 per kilowatt-hour.
The proposed increase will continue for the next three years.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Kambangula said all queries regarding the proposed power cuts would be answered during a press conference today.