The Electricity Control Board (ECB) says it will, at the end of this month, adjust the tariffs of 11 distribution licensees after the majority failed to apply for adjustments.
The board said the majority of licensees from the South have failed to apply for tariff adjustments, while some have not done so for the past two years.
ECB renews or adjusts tariffs by June, a final period upon which all distributors are required to have submitted tariff adjustment proposals, but some have not done so.
In May, the ECB announced an increase of 8.97% for NamPower bulk electricity tariffs, inclusive of generation and transmission.
In the absence of this, ECB Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kahimise, said it is threatening the sustainability of such distributors as they operate at a loss based on outdated tariffs.
“For reasons only known to them, it has been three months now that they are operating on outdated tariffs, resulting in millions of losses in revenue, which are supposed to keep them afloat and running, ensuring sustainability. We, therefore, urge them to urgently submit their tariff applications. If not by the end of this month, we shall adjust their tariffs based on the data we have,” he said.
The disobedient licensees according to the ECB are ||Kharas Regional Council, including village councils such as Aroab, Berseba, Bethanie, Gibeon, Gochas, Leonardville, Tses, Witvleis, as well as the Karasburg Town Council.
The unilateral adjustment may have advantages and disadvantages on the distribution utilities’ revenue as it could be more or less than what they could have earned had they made their applications.
In July, the ECB cautioned against distribution utilities losing revenue because they will be selling electricity based on outdated tariffs while purchasing on new tariffs, especially prepaid revenue that is collected through pre-paid sales.
After that announcement, 12 utilities heeded the call, and their applications were finalized in August, even though they lost out on revenue for two months.
The utilities include the City of Windhoek (8.6%), Finkenstein Development Trust (8%), Hardap Regional Council (9.6%), Keetmanshoop Municipality (7.9%), Luderitz Town Council (4.7%), Mariental Municipality (9.9%), Maltahohe (10%), NORED (9.8%), Omaheke Regional Council (3.3%), Oshakati Premier Electric (9.9%), Osire Power CC (9.6%), RoshSkor Township (9.5%).
“The reason for the delay in the finalization of the review is due to unavailable information from the licensees, which is necessary to finalize,” stated the CEO.
He further revealed that the regulator is still besieged with reviewing applications submitted after the end of July, anticipating to finalize them at the end of this month. These include Gobabis Municipality, Town Councils Aranos and Rehoboth, as well as Kalkrand and Koes village councils.
