4,000 Namibians Sign Petition Against Electricity Price Hike

The online petition asking for ministerial actions against the Electricity Control Board’s (ECB) that has resulted in an 8% electricity tariff hike has been signed by over 4, 000 people in the first four days only.

This decision by the ECB implies that from the 1st of July this year, Namibians will be charged between N$2,50 to N$3 per unit of electricity.

Spokesperson for Katutura Residents Committee, Shaun Gariseb, who initiated the petition, argued that the residents were not sufficiently involved in the decision-making process, and the tariff increase will only make life even harder for struggling families.

“Everybody is touched in these tight economic spaces, it will impact on individuals and corporate entities,” Gariseb said on Monday.

He urged mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo to use his ministerial powers to intervene and review the ECB’s tariff hike.

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“The minister is stripped of powers when determining these electricity hikes, but is involved in determining licensing. The ECB relies on a national tariff study that was done in the year 200. Yes, in 2001 when taxis cost N$5 and there was no Facebook. Circumstances have not changed in over 20 years (yet) they base their decisions on a study done two decades ago,” said Gariseb.

He explained further that the Electricity Control Board’s (ECB) website is intentionally blocking access to crucial documents, including guidelines on tariff costing and methodology, which are legally required to be publicly available. The error message that appears when trying to download these documents is deliberate, suggesting a concerted effort to conceal this information from the public. He claimed this lack of transparency prevents citizens from understanding how decisions are made, sparking concerns about accountability and secrecy.

He said the only way to rectify this is by protests and court proceedings or awaiting load-shedding, a deliberate power outage to manage energy demand.