WALVIS BAY - Residents in the Erongo region will have to dig deeper into their pockets for electricity as electricity distributor Erongo Red yesterday announced tariff increases for the 2022/2023 financial year.
The electricity distributor announced an increase of 6.9%, backdated to 1 August, at a press conference held on Wednesday afternoon.
However, farmers and SMEs won’t feel the increase as the distributor will not pass on any tariff increase for SMEs currently on prepaid electricity.
Erongo Red also opted to reduce the first and additional connections for farms and plots that are billed through fixed charges by 50%.
Erongo Red CEO Tino Hanabeb said the increase and tariff adjustments were needed as NamPower also increased their tariffs by 7.3%, and that the actual impact of the increase on Erongo Red is 9.4%.
“Erongo Red submitted an application to the Electricity Control Board (ECB) for a tariff adjustment for the current financial year. After reviewing our application for the tariff adjustment, the ECB approved a weighted average of 6.9% tariff adjustment, effective 01 August 2022,” he explained.
According to him, these tariff increases are not unique to the electricity industry, and that almost everything, ranging from basic commodities to material costs, had gone up in the past few months.
This is mainly driven by the dynamics in geopolitical issues in Ukraine and Russia, which have significantly impacted the global economy and trade, said Hanabeb.
“In addition, the decline in the value of our currency against the dominant currencies such as the US dollar and Euro is another contributing factor. However, the main factor that influences our tariffs is the bulk tariff increase by NamPower. All these factors have an impact on the input cost to bring electricity to the end-user,” he added.
The CEO said despite the increase, Erongo Red will continue with its support to pensioners as well as those on social tariffs.
“The pensioners will continue to enjoy subsidised tariffs (special tariffs) up to 40-ampere circuit breakers, and the installation of prepaid boxes for free. We will continue with the social tariffs”, he assured. - edeklerk@nepc.com.na