Africa-Press – Namibia. The City of Windhoek is one of two electricity distributors who had their application for new tariffs for the period 2025-2026 approved, but implementation has been shelved until they comply with stipulated Electricity Control Board (ECB) conditions.
The other entity whose new tariff was frozen conditionally is the Northern Electricity Distributor (Nored).
According to a statement from ECB chief executive Robert Kahimise issued on Friday, Windhoek applied for a tariff increase of 4% but was awarded a 3.9% rise while Nored wanted 7.4% but got a nod for 4%.
“City of Windhoek must submit operating and manual financial statements for 2023-2024 as well as a detailed report on the Electricity Business Unit ring-fencing progress status and the measures to fully ring-fence the business unit,” says Kahimise.
The city must also provide power quality of supply and quality of service reports, he adds.
On the other hand, before Nored can implement the new tariff, the distributor must submit audited financial statements for 2022-2023 and get the auditors’ commitment to finalise 2023-2024 audited financial statements.
Other distributors who submitted tariff adjustment applications to ECB between 13 May and 15 June and were awarded tariff increases effective 1 July 2025 until 30 June 2026 are the Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) which applied for 3.02% but was awarded 1.7%, Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored) which wanted 5.8% but got 3.8% and Cenored Omaheke which applied for a modest 1.5% and got 0.75%.
“The Oshakati Premier Electric applied for 4.19% but the board approved 3.5%, while Erongo Red applied for and got a 3.7% increase approval,” Kahimise says.
All the approved post-paid tariffs will be effective on 1July, while the effective date for new pre-paid rates was Friday, 4 July.
Kahimise highlights that the ECB announced a 3.8% bulk electricity tariff rise for NamPower in May this year, which got N$283 million support from the government – equivalent to 3.8%.
“This adjustment changed the average tariff, which was applicable to bulk customers such as REDS, local authorities, regional councils and large industrial transmission customers like mines, from N$1.9856 per kWh to N$2.0611 per kWh for the financial year 2025-2026,” he says.
Kahimise adds that following the bulk electricity tariff announcement, all distribution licencees were urged to individually apply to ECB for a review of their distribution tariffs, which are applicable to end customers effective this month.
Said local authorities and regional councils’ debt to NamPower was increasing by an average of N$10 million a month.
“The Rehoboth Town Council remains on a bulk prepayment arrangement with its debt growing by about N$1.2 million a month due to interest charges.
“This is because only 10% of the prepaid amount is being applied to the debt, which slows down repayment,” the chief executive adds.
According to Kahimise, the ECB directors had recommended that NamPower considers stopping interest charges on arrears for local authorities that are making good-faith efforts to repay their debts.
He says Nored continued to honour its repayment agreement, with arrears standing at N$38.5 million as of 8 May.
On the implementation of the National Integrated Resource Plan, Kahimise says the Anixas and Khan plants had been completed while the Cerim project experienced delays due to land rights issues.
“The Rosh Pinah solar PV plant is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2026, while the Otjikoto biomass plant is scheduled for commissioning in the second quarter of 2027,” he says, adding that NamPower’s Battery Energy Storage System is set to come online in the fourth quarter of 2025.
“These plants will aid Namibia’s efforts towards security of electricity and help the country to lessen dependence on imports, which are expensive,” he said.
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