No electricity hike just yet

WINDHOEK residents can find small comfort in the fact that local electricity tariffs won’t be increasing just yet following last week’s chaos over the supply of prepaid electricity.

Last month, the Windhoek City Council approved an effective 15 per cent increase in electricity tariffs subject to an Electricity Control Board (ECB) approval of NamPower’s tariff hike application.The ECB has approved an 18 per cent tariff increase for NamPower, but Roger Gertze, City of Windhoek (CoW) strategic executive for Finance, said that Windhoek residents won’t feel the pinch of the tariff hike immediately. According to Gertze, the Windhoek Municipality is awaiting official confirmation of the tariff increase from NamPower. Once it has the confirmation, the issue will be brought before the City Council for a decision on the increase for which it will make an application to the ECB.The Windhoek Municipality will then make a submission to the ECB for approval of a tariff increase, and pending the outcome from the ECB, the City Council will make a decision on the electricity tariff increase to be implemented.Gertze did however say that should the ECB approve an increase lower than the 15 per cent which the Municipality anticipates, then it won’t be necessary to return to the City Council for approval and implementation.

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