SORED sparks fly in the South

KEETMANSHOOP - Some local authorities in the //Kharas and Hardap regions are reluctant to join the Southern Regional Electricity Distributor (SORED), saying revenue from electricity sales helps them keep their heads above water.This came out in a consultation meeting at Keetmanshoop on Tuesday. The aim of the meeting was to get the local authorities in both regions to decide whether they wish to join SORED and give the distributor the mandate to supply electricity to their respective local authorities.Cabinet approved the establishment of regional electricity distributors in 2000. So far only three distributors have been established, namely the Northern Regions Electricity Distributor (Nored), the Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored) and Erongo RED.Local authorities that strongly suggested that they will not join SORED are the Keetmanshoop municipality, Karasburg, the Rehoboth and Lüderitz town councils and the Bethanie and Berseba village councils.They said electricity sales help them pay salaries and cover operational costs.The chief executive officer of the Keetmanshoop municipality, Desmond Basson, said the local authority generates close to N$95 million from electricity alone. Surrendering the supply of electricity to another party is not a decision they can take after their experience with the Southern Electricity Company (SELCo), he said.SELco aftertaste“In the past when we had SELCo we had no development of electrical infrastructure. “There was no development at all and there were no fair charges for 17 years, but when we took over from SELCo in 2017 we are able to generate so much revenue that we used it to pay our employees in the electricity department, we have our own assets and we even have a separate electricity account,” Basson said.He urged other local authorities to follow the example of the Keetmanshoop municipality and continue supplying their own electricity, cutting out the middle man.Local authorities that indicated that they are willing to join SORED are Aranos, Stampriet, Koës, Aroab, Tses and Gochas.However, they will only do so if their conditions are met. This includes SORED increasing surcharges and writing off their debt with NamPower. The local authorities also do not want to be required to hand over their infrastructure to SORED.A delegation was appointed to represent the //Kharas and Hardap regions at a meeting schedules to take place in Windhoek on Friday with the ministry of mines and energy, where the local authorities will pronounce themselves on their decision on whether to join SORED or not. - Nampa

SORED sparks fly in the South

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Republikein 2025-07-11

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SORED sparks fly in the South

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