NamPower has announced the suspension of its debt recovery plan, which involved disconnecting defaulting customers, until the end of August.
The decision follows a consultative meeting held last Thursday between the NamPower Board of Directors, Management, and the Minister of Finance and Public Enterprise.
During the meeting, the government agreed to intervene in addressing NamPower’s outstanding debt of N$1.5 billion.
“At the meeting, the Minister outlined the government’s intervention measures aimed at assisting NamPower in collecting the money owed by its customers. The implementation of these measures has already begun and will continue until the end of August 2023,” stated NamPower in a communique.
“The Minister will also make necessary recommendations to the government before the end of August on this matter. As a result, the NamPower Board of Directors has decided to put NamPower’s plan to disconnect defaulting customers on hold until the end of August 2023.”
NamPower had already initiated disconnections for 14 defaulters, including eight regions under the Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (Nored).
The defaulters include Nored and various local authorities, such as the Municipality of Rehoboth, Municipality of Mariental, Municipality of Karasburg, Aranos Town Council, Village Council Maltahohe, Gibeon Village Council, Bethanie Village Council, Tses Village Council, Koes Village Council, Leonardville Village Council, Berseba Village Council, Kalkrand Village Council, and Stampriet Village Council Office.
Earlier, NamPower had introduced an incentive where the interest portion of the outstanding debt accumulated over the past 12 months would be waived if the customer settled the full amount on or before May 31, 2023. This measure aimed to encourage customers to settle their debts.
However, this incentive only applied to the interest charged on the specific outstanding capital amount, up to a maximum of 12 months.
NamPower had provided defaulters with a one-month notice before disconnecting their power supply.
