The Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) imported 67.4% of power from neighbouring countries and the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) market to meet the country’s electricity demand. This is an increase from 59% of the 2019/20 financial year. 

According to the electricity utility’s 2021 annual report, “NamPower continues to rely on regional trading partners to meet the country’s electricity demand. 

The catchment area of Ruacana did not receive good rainfall during the reporting period, resulting in the Ruacana Hydro Power Station flow averaging 93 m3/s (2019/20: 275 m3/s) for the financial
year”. 

This was a major factor in decreasing NamPower’s contribution to total units into the system to 24.1%, compared to 33.4% achieved in the previous year. 

According to the power corporation, the cost of imported electricity was the main contributor to the increased cost of electricity. 

NamPower further stated that as a result of the various measures introduced to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, as well as the slowdown in economic activities, revenue reduced by 5% (2019/20: 4.8% increase) from N$6.9 billion in the previous year, to N$6.5 billion for the year under review. 

This was mainly attributable to a decrease in unit sales’ volumes of 10.3%, from 4,352 GWh to 3,903 GWh (2019/20:4.6% increase).

“Recognising the economic challenges prevailing in the country, the bulk
electricity tariff for the year remained unchanged from the 2020 financial year at 164.88 cents/ kWh, the first time the tariff has remained unchanged in the history of the company,” reads the report.