Martin Endjala
Namibia’s Electricity Control Board last week announced that it has approved the Cost of Unserved Energy (COUE) study which is considered key economic and financial parameters of customer interruptions.
The cost of unserved energy refers to the economic impact or cost of discomfort on households when there is a lack of available energy to meet their needs.
The ECB’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kahimise said that the study provides an economic value to the cost of unplanned electricity interruptions, as well as the inability to meet electricity demand at a given time to electricity customers and the economy as a whole.
“These values would be used to inform several investments and refurbishment of the network,” he said.
He stated that the study highlighted that direct economic COUE reflected a N$36.19 Gross Value Added per Kilowatt-Hour (GVA/KWH), which represents economic losses within a specific sector, expressed as an N$GVA per kWh that occurs when there is insufficient energy to meet demands.
The study further revealed the total COUE at N$85.38 GVA/KWH. The value represents the total economic effect due to the absence of available energy to meet demands, while the household cost of unserved energy stood at N$11.12 per kilowatt-hour.
He indicated that the study was not focused on planned outages, as customers could make alternative arrangements during the period of power interruption or outage.
According to the study Kahimise said, the impact of a planned outage was less devastating than unplanned outage.
The CEO reiterated that the entity remains committed to the entire electricity value chain and the Namibian economy at large.
“We will continue to prospective investors, market participants and the public in general informed about the regulatory affairs of the Namibia Electricity Supply Industry (ESI),” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, the industry statistics framework was also approved which will be used as a guiding framework to develop the annual ESI statistical bulletin. Which provides various industry statistics for the Namibian ESI.
Moreover, the need for the revision was to accommodate new developments within the ESI, such as the introduction of the Modified Single Buyer market model, as well as further improve the overall functionality and ease of use.
