Power costs should not leave families in the dark- Amutse

Energy minister Modestus Amutse has warned that approved electricity tariffs can remain beyond the reach of ordinary Namibians, acknowledging that households are being forced to choose between electricity and basic necessities such as food, rent and transport.

Speaking at an Electricity Control Board (ECB) discussion forum last week, Amutse said regulatory approval does not automatically mean electricity is affordable.

“A tariff can be approved, properly calculated and still be beyond a family’s means,” he warned.

The minister asked the ECB, NamPower and regional and local authority electricity distributors to scrutinise their operational costs before passing additional financial pressure to consumers.

“Before we ask the public to pay more, have we done everything reasonably within our power to make the services cost less?” he said.

“Electricity is affordable when a household can pay for enough of it to meet basic needs without sacrificing food, rent or other essentials,” the minister said. “For a small business, it must be reliable and priced at a level that allows the business to survive and grow.”

He questioned whether electricity providers fully understand the problems behind declining consumption, warning that lower electricity usage does not necessarily mean consumers are becoming more efficient.

“It may also reflect hardship. We need to know the difference,” he said. “We must therefore distinguish between a connection and the ability to use it. A household can be connected to the grid and still live in the dark.”

Amutse asked providers when they had last spoken to customers directly about what they had to sacrifice to purchase electricity.

He also questioned whether such feedback had ever changed decisions within the institutions responsible for supplying and regulating electricity.

A prepaid meter, he said, can effectively cut off a household’s electricity without a formal disconnection taking place.

“If we count only formal disconnections, do we understand how many customers are actually going without power then?” he asked.

Value for money

He said financial sustainability remained important, warning that an electricity system allowed to deteriorate would create further costs through spoiled food, interrupted production, damaged equipment and lost income.

However, he insisted that utilities should demonstrate that proposed tariff increases were necessary and that consumers were receiving value for their money.

Addressing the ECB, Amutse said tariff decisions must consider the impact on households with low or irregular incomes, not just electricity providers’ revenue needs. He questioned the evidence behind approved increases, how efficiency was measured and what happened when promised service improvements failed to materialise.

“Predictability matters to investors. It also matters to families trying to plan the next month,” he said.

He urged distributors to explain prepaid electricity charges and deductions clearly, while addressing electricity losses, slow repairs, procurement costs and administrative duplication. “The customer should not have to finance your job,” he said.