Stefanus Nashama
Following the retraction of the electricity tariff increase by the Electricity Control Board (ECB), the planned protest against the electricity hike has been postponed until further notice.
The protest organiser, social activist Michael Amushelelo, confirmed this with the Windhoek Observer on Thursday.
“This will give us enough time to organise the biggest protest for the removal of the regional electricity distributors and for the ECB to be a department in the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
This is to ensure only Nampower will be supplying electricity, and the ministry revises the tariff like what it did this fuel and petrol” said Amushelelo.
Amushelelo said when Nampower gets electricity from Eskom, it sells it to other institutions (regional electricity distributors) that add their interest and set their price, making it costly for the people.
“Nampower must sell electricity directly to the public. At least there should be 70 units in a N$100. The reason you find people getting fewer units per N$100 is because of that change in the system of distributing electricity,” he said.
Amushelelo said the fight for affordable living should not end with the announcement that consumers will continue to pay for electricity at the 2023-2024 rates.
On Wednesday, the ECB announced that the tariffs for 2024–2025 will only be effective in June 2025.
“This is a small victory that we shouldn’t even celebrate. The problem is that people in this country do not understand. The increase just remained unchanged until next year. After elections we must be prepared for a double increase, that’s why we need to all learn to stand together and fight,” he said.
The protest was planned for Sunday at the Zoo Park.
The ECB decided on Wednesday to retract the decision for the tariff increase from N$1.82 to N$1.98 per kilowatt-hour.
The ECB chief executive officer, Robert Kahimise, said this effectively means that consumers will pay the same tariffs as per the schedule of approved tariffs for 2023–2024.
“The ECB Board will allow licensees to deviate from the approved 2024–2025 Approved Schedule of Tariffs as per Section 27(3) of the Electricity Act,” said Kahimise.
