By John Travolter Matali
TSUMEB – CENORED on Tuesday informed the public that electricity tariffs will increase with an average of nine percent for CENORED clients and 12 percent for the Omaheke regional council.
The increase came into effect on July 01 2014, and according to CENORED the recent increase of tariffs was necessitated by the fact the bulk electricity purchase increased by 13.22 percent.
Prepaid tariff increase is 3 percent moving from N$1.65 to N$1.72 while domestic tariffs increased by 4 percent. For farmers the increase is 8.2 percent and large power users received an 11 percent increase.
The announcement was made at the official opening of the CENORED’s N$500 000 state-of-the art call centre in Tsumeb which will provide services ranging from customer queries, farmers and large power users queries, power interruptions announcements, billing queries, electrical faults queries, power outages and breakdown as well as general queries.
CENORED’s Executive Manager for Finance, August Kahimunu, urged customers to use electricity sparingly in order to save the scarce commodity.
“Electricity in Namibia, if not the whole world is not getting cheaper, this is mainly because of the shortage of electricity that is experienced in the whole SADC region,” stated Kahimunu.
“We want to ensure our customers that despite the challenges the country is experiencing in terms of electricity, CENORED is committed to its peri-urban electrification programme,” he added.
Kahimunu said 96 houses in Oshikoto regions Tsintsabis district are currently being electrified, as well as 200 houses in the Otjozondjupa, 150 in Grootfontein and 50 in the Otjiwarongo district.
According to Kahimunu 130 houses in Khorixas Kunene region, 130 houses in Tsumeb Oshikoto region, 130 houses in Otjiwarongo Otjozondjupa region, 32 house in Kalkfeld Otjozondjupa region, 42 houses in Buitepos in Omaheke region were earmarked to receive free electrification during the current 2014/2015 financial year.
“These capital projects amount to 15 million, other capital projects include an N$35 million upgrade in Otavi which will ensure the continuous development of the municipal area and to eradicate problems of power dips and long interruptions.
CENORED’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Apollus Mburumba, informed New Era the call centre was strategically built in Tsumeb instead of Otjiwarongo because the company observed the high pace of development in the copper town.
“We decided to play our part in Tsumeb’s development, this is but a small indication of our commitment to Tsumeb and a reaffirmation of our partnership in progress,” Mburumba stated.
He added that the call centre was staffed with experienced and competent people who the company believes will be more than capable of rendering assistance CENORED’s customers.”