The Northern Regional Electricity Distributor company (Nored) prepaid vending system is currently off, leaving customers and electricity vendors in the dark.
This comes amid the ongoing industrial strike that started on Thursday.
At the moment, Nored customers are unable to purchase electricity tokens from vendors or online platforms, including banking apps.
The employees of Nored are currently on a nationwide strike, demanding a 6% salary increase.
The strike which started on Thursday will go on until the employees’ demands are met by management.
Nored prepaid customers whose electricity tokens have depleted are currently in the dark, a situation that affects households, businesses, healthcare facilities and schools.
Benita Sheya, a resident of Oluno at Ondangwa, told The Namibian that she has not been able to cook since Thursday.
Another Nored customer, Shilongo Shilongo, says the power cuts are affecting them because they have nowhere to charge their cellphones.
The Namibia Water Corporation also warns of possible water shortages in some areas as the water pumps are electrically powered.
Nored spokesperson Simon Lukas says the Mineworkers Union of Namibia, the union representing the employees in the bargaining units, commenced a strike at all the Nored offices in the regions on Thursday.
“We anticipate that this action will result in reduced staff availability, which may impact our ability to timely respond to power failures, maintenance and operational issues, vending service, answering of calls in the call centre, processing of payments and other customer service requests,” he says.
He says as an essential service provider, Nored’s priority is the safety of the communities and the continuity of electricity supply to its customers.
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