Failure by some NamPower customers to honour their electricity debts yesterday landed them in hot water, as by 11h00, the corporation commenced with the suspension of services. Before mid-day yesterday, the power was cut to Berseba Village Council, Village Council Witvlei, Agribusdev, Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, and Congo Namibia Trading (Kombat).
According to NamPower spokesperson Tangeni Kambangula, electricity supply to these customers was suspended for four hours yesterday – from 11h00 to 15h00.
“If no arrangement is made by these customers with NamPower by the end of this week, the customers will move to stage two, which involves the suspension of electricity supply for eight hours over the period of two days,” stated Kambangula.
She added that the suspension of electricity supply to customers in arrears will continue until acceptable arrangements have been made or the accounts have been settled in full.
Suspension of electricity supply to customers due to long overdue accounts is a debt collection plan, which NamPower announced to its customers and the public on 8 March 2021.
The debt collection plan, which involves the suspension of electricity to defaulting customers, was prompted by long overdue accounts by some NamPower customers, with the total amount owed estimated to be in the region of N$800 million.
As part of the plan, NamPower announced it will suspend power supply on 12 April 2021 to customers who have not settled their accounts by 31 March 2021.
“After the announcement, some customers responded positively and came up with commitments to bring their accounts up-to-date or settle their arrears,” Kambungala explained.
Sport ministry executive director Audrin Mathe said his ministry settled the accounts already and sent proof of payment to NamPower last week.
Upon enquiry, agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein told New Era: “We have a situation where we have outstanding payments due to NamPower but NamPower owes us too. The switching off power is not helpful when the ongoing discussions are not yet concluded”.
Efforts to get comment yesterday from the other affected customers proved futile.