Sep 24, 2025 (The Namibian/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
Urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa has encouraged low-income households to switch from post-paid to pre-paid electricity metres, saying it offers better cost control and transparency.
Sankwasa said this in the National Assembly last week, while responding to questions from Popular Democratic Movement member of parliament Diederik Vries.
He said to increase accessibility, the City of Windhoek encourages pensioners to switch from post-paid to pre-paid electricity metres.
"Pre-paid metres offer better cost control and transparency, particularly beneficial for low-income households. A public awareness campaign is under way to help residents make informed choices between metering systems based on their usage patterns," he said.
Sankwasa said the municipality employs cross-subsidisation strategies to support consumers who qualify for assistance under national policies, subject to approval by the Electricity Control Board (ECB).
He added that pensioners registered under the special tariff category currently pay N$1.67/kWh for the first 250 units of electricity per month, compared to the standard rate of N$2.47/kWh, making basic electricity needs more affordable.
Sankwasa explained that electricity tariff adjustments cannot be stopped randomly due to the fact that they are driven by underlying costs of generation, transmission and distribution.
With the Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) sourcing a significant portion of its electricity from South Africa's Eskom, any increase in Eskom's prices directly affects NamPower and by extension all downstream distributors, including the City of Windhoek, he said.
Introducing a cap without a compensatory government subsidy, Sankwasa said, would jeopardise the financial viability of NamPower, the city and the broader electricity sector. Such a move, he added, would risk undermining electricity reliability and affordability in the long term.
To protect the sector's integrity, Sankwasa said, Namibia relies on the ECB's cost-reflective pricing model, which ensures that tariffs cover the actual costs incurred.
"Unless government subsidies are introduced to cover the shortfall, enforcing a cap would result in financial instability and a potential collapse of the electricity supply chain," he said.
Proposed electricity price increases, he said, are not intended to cover inefficiencies.
Sankwasa also said the city's electricity department is currently severely understaffed, with only about 60% of its approved positions filled.
As a result, the available personnel are highly stretched and operating under considerable pressure.
He said the city's total electricity losses are approximately 6%, a rate considered excellent when benchmarked against both local and international electricity distributors.
COMTEX_469005178/2029/2025-09-24T02:31:39
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