Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi has intervened in the power disconnection issue faced by defaulting Local Authorities (LAs) and has requested NamPower to halt the disconnection process.
The Minister has called for a consultation with the LAs and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development before any further actions are taken.
In a letter addressed to NamPower’s board Chairperson, Daniel Motinga, Minister Shiimi highlighted that Cabinet had given a directive to the national power utility, instructing them not to proceed with power disconnection for defaulting LAs.
This development follows NamPower’s initiation of phase one of its electricity disconnection plan for several LAs on Monday.
As a result, eight Northern regions under the jurisdiction of Nored experienced power outages, while 13 other local authorities in Hardap and //Kharas were also affected.
Despite Nored making a payment of N$20 million on Monday, it was insufficient to prevent the disconnection.
Nored reportedly still owes a significant amount of N$300 million, while the combined outstanding debt of Southern regions stands at N$500 million.
The planned power cuts in the first stage were intended to last for four hours, and on Tuesday, NamPower will proceed to stage two by increasing the downtime to eight hours, then 12 hours in stage three.
These measures will continue as the days progress without any full payment, advancing to stages seven and eight, where the cut-off time will be adjusted to between 24 hours and 28 hours, respectively.
The power utility had issued a month’s notice to switch off defaulters.
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