Villages cough up for power

POWER was reconnected to several villages in the South yesterday after they made hefty payments to NamPower.

At the time of going to press, only Gibeon was still struggling to find money to pay the power utility. The village councillors were still meeting yesterday afternoon.”We are told that the debt is not that huge, but we don’t know how much they owe.What I can tell you is that it will be a miracle if we have electricity back in Gibeon by Christmas,” said one shop owner at the southern village.Kalkrand and Maltahoehe have paid some of the outstanding money.They and Hoachanas, Schlip, Duineveld, Leonardville and Omamas – all receiving electricity through Kalkrand – were back on the power grid yesterday.Sources said Kalkrand’s Village Council had vowed to take serious steps against residents who owe them money.Some owe the council up to N$24 000.The council is supposed to collect up to N$58 000 a month from residents for water and electricity services.Yesterday the council informed some residents that their services would be cut if their debts were not settled by September 7.At Maltahoehe, the Council paid N$100 000 yesterday but was told by NamPower to pay a further N$252 000 by Friday or face another power cut by Monday morning.Two weeks ago, Maltahoehe paid N$190 000 to NamPower.The Maltahoehe council is in a precarious situation, as it was hoping that the Ministry of Education (for school hostels) would pay them at least N$70 000 by Friday while they were also expecting some money from the Ministry of Health (State Hospital).Yesterday, sources in the South were speculating that NamPower was taking the drastic action to recover outstanding debts because the power distribution would soon be taken over by the Southern Regional Electricity Distributors (Sored).”We think they want to collect all their money before the changeover to Sored.That is all we can think of at the moment,” one source said.NamPower’s Chief Technical Advisor, Reiner Jagau, maintained that a confidential contract with clients prevented the utility from disclosing anything about their accounts.The Ministry of Local Government has decided to stay out of the problems experienced by the local councils.It blames poor management by the councils for the problems they are experiencing and claims that the councils are not interested in collecting money for services rendered.The village councillors were still meeting yesterday afternoon.”We are told that the debt is not that huge, but we don’t know how much they owe.What I can tell you is that it will be a miracle if we have electricity back in Gibeon by Christmas,” said one shop owner at the southern village.Kalkrand and Maltahoehe have paid some of the outstanding money.They and Hoachanas, Schlip, Duineveld, Leonardville and Omamas – all receiving electricity through Kalkrand – were back on the power grid yesterday.Sources said Kalkrand’s Village Council had vowed to take serious steps against residents who owe them money.Some owe the council up to N$24 000.The council is supposed to collect up to N$58 000 a month from residents for water and electricity services.Yesterday the council informed some residents that their services would be cut if their debts were not settled by September 7.At Maltahoehe, the Council paid N$100 000 yesterday but was told by NamPower to pay a further N$252 000 by Friday or face another power cut by Monday morning.Two weeks ago, Maltahoehe paid N$190 000 to NamPower.The Maltahoehe council is in a precarious situation, as it was hoping that the Ministry of Education (for school hostels) would pay them at least N$70 000 by Friday while they were also expecting some money from the Ministry of Health (State Hospital).Yesterday, sources in the South were speculating that NamPower was taking the drastic action to recover outstanding debts because the power distribution would soon be taken over by the Southern Regional Electricity Distributors (Sored).”We think they want to collect all their money before the changeover to Sored.That is all we can think of at the moment,” one source said.NamPower’s Chief Technical Advisor, Reiner Jagau, maintained that a confidential contract with clients prevented the utility from disclosing anything about their accounts.The Ministry of Local Government has decided to stay out of the problems experienced by the local councils.It blames poor management by the councils for the problems they are experiencing and claims that the councils are not interested in collecting money for services rendered.