2008-02-01Staff Report 2 "By Charles Tjatindi WALVIS BAY Given the town's dependency on industries and factories that rely on electricity to operate, announcements by the national power utility on the imposition of a load-shedding schedule has been met with mixed feelings by business and resident communities of Walvis Bay. Many business owners fear that this will impact heavily on their businesses, while general residents appear more confused by the situation. Walvis Bay Mayor Derek Klazen has however urged residents and the business community to remain calm, noting that the situation has been misinterpreted by some members of the public who are causing unnecessary alarm. Speaking at the first ordinary council meeting of the year, Klazen assured Walvis Bay residents and the business community that the power situation is not as bad as it is being made out to be. ""As announced by NamPower earlier, the company will make use of power shedding as a measure to address the shortage of electricity. The public will be informed in advance about possible load-shedding through their service providers such as the Erongo Regional Electricity Distributor (Erongo RED),"" said Klazen Klazen urged residents to verify information with relevant authorities, and to avoid reacting to information from unauthorized sources which may be misleading. He assured residents and business people that no total blackouts are expected . ""NamPower has given the assurance that there will be no total blackouts, unless these blackouts are caused by other factors other than load-shedding such as lightning or damaged power lines,"" he noted. The mayor in turn urged the residents of Walvis Bay to employ energy saving measures in order to mitigate the power demand-supply situation at the town. He used the opportunity to reveal some power saving measures that could be employed by residents to lessen the problem facing NamPower. Amongst others, he appealed to residents to switch off appliances in stand-by mode such as hi-fi systems, video and DVD players and other devices. Geysers should be switched off when residents go to work, and only switched on later in the evening when they get back from work. The mayor lashed out at people who are said to be collecting signatures from residents for a petition to the municipality. According to Klazen, these people are collecting residents' signatures with promises of employment to the signatories. He appealed to residents not to partake in such activities, but to rather approach his office directly. ""Please be warned not to sign or ratify documents from people you do not know and whose credentials cannot be verified. My office is always willing to provide members of the public with information whenever requested to do so ... liaise with my office when in doubt,"" said Klazen Meanwhile, Klazen urged councillors to redouble their efforts to enable customers to benefit from effective and efficient service. He noted that the focus of the municipality should be to preserve and conserve resources and avoid unnecessary wastage. Long serving members of the town council were also awarded certificates. Recipients' years of service ranged from 15 years to 35 years. " 2008-02-01Staff Report 2
