Oshakati’s electricity supplier has asked for its tariffs to be increased by 7% starting from 1 July.
Oshakati Premier Electric (OPE) made a presentation to the Electricity Control Board (ECB) at a public meeting that took place in Oshakati on 7 June.
Mr Nelson Sheya, the chief executive officer of OPE, told close to 50 people who included members of the public and officials of ECB, that the purpose of asking for an increase is to be able “to supply affordable and reliable electricity to our people.”
Sheya also stated that OPE has started with the construction of a solar plant that will help them generated their own electricity and reduce the reliance on Nampower as the only source of its electricity.
Mr Bennodictus Sheehama, OPE’s executive manager for finance and corporate services made a presentation, detailing the mandate of OPE, cost of supply structure, and new tariff application overview.
After OPE’s presentation, residents of Oshakati who attended the meeting also got an opportunity to ask questions and express their views on the electricity charges which OPE wants to increase.
Most of them expressed a view that continuous electricity price increases have made their lives miserable and unable to afford living a decent town life.
“We have taken note of all contributions. We are going to analyse OPE’s application as well as analyse all the contributions from residents, and then we will determine what is an appropriate tariff,” said Mr Tonateni Amakutuwa, senior financial and market analyst at ECB.
“And we will give a response to OPE on their application before the end of June.”
For the year 2023/24 ECB had approved a tariff increase of 9,90% for OPE.
In the photo: Mr Nelson Sheya making opening remarks at the meeting that was the first of its kind where OPE’s tariff increase application was presented in public.
