ECB holds meeting to discuss frequent power outages at Rundu

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The Electricity Control Board (ECB) on Tuesday held a meeting with the Rundu Town Council (RTC) and key stakeholders to discuss the frequent power outages experienced in the town.

Speaking to Nampa on the outcome of the meeting on Wednesday, ECB spokesperson Ferdinand Molale said the meeting went well and the regulator will now engage the Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (NORED) and NamPower on some of the information obtained in order to come up with mitigating measures that would minimise and eventually eliminate the power outages.

“There are instances where an outage takes place and we as the electricity regulator, can prompt the distributor to act on it immediately if made aware by stakeholders,” Molale said.

He said during the meeting some stakeholders drew their attention to how unhappy they are with the service they receive from the distributor, citing administrative inefficiencies while businesses raised a concern about how the frequent power outages impact them.

There were issues that were raised during the meeting, that we will investigate so that we can give the consumers feedback, he said.

NORED distributes electricity to thousands of consumers in the Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshikoto, Kunene, Oshana, Kavango and Zambezi regions by buying energy from the generator and bulk supplier, Nampower and selling it through its network to end-users.

Meanwhile, the water and sanitation head of division of RTC Iglesias Maruta, who represented the town council at the meeting said although the meeting went well, what did not really come out clearly is why the town experiences frequent power disruptions which would at times affect water supply as well.

Maruta, thus, called on ECB to, in their next meeting also include officials from NORED and NamPower to explain and give a clear understanding of why the problem still persists.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency