Activist thanks mines ministry for power tariff hike cancellation
Written by on July 4, 2024
Katutura Residents Committee spokesperson Shaun Gariseb has thanked the Ministry of Mines and Energy for cancelling the planned electricity tariff hike.
Electricity Control Board (ECB) chief executive Robert Kahimise recently announced that the 8% electricity tariff increase planned effective 1 July was cancelled after the government made N$365 million available to subsidise consumers’ electricity costs for the 2024/25 year.
This is after a petition started by Gariseb garnered over 4 000 signatures and a protest was planned for Saturday.
The hike in bulk power supply would have squeezed an already economically depressed consumer, Gariseb says.
“I would like to thank the minister of mines and energy for heeding my call to intervene interms of Article 40 (a) of the Namibian Constitution after I objected to the hike application first, and asked for a review of the ECB decision as directed in the Electricity Act.”
Gariseb says leaders listen and demonstrate regard for the people and their concerns. He has also thanked all those who signed the petition.
“Even pensioners who were asking for a hard copy to sign and all the people who shared the petition and were ready for the 6 July demonstration.”
The latest ECB decision sees last year’s tariff applying until the end of June next year.
Gariseb, however, has encouraged stakeholders not to sit back and relax because 2025 is the year Namibia’s Eskom agreement expires.
“Let us be deliberate about becoming self-reliant,” says Gariseb, who has further called for stakeholders to be proactive.
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