601 houses in Daures with electricity by September

The Erongo RED Rural and Peri-Urban Electrification Project was launched on Wednesday, 08 June. The purpose of the event was to launch the electrification of 601 households in Okombahe, Omatjete, Otjohorongo, Tubusis and Anichab. This is part of Erongo RED’s drive to bring power to the people.

According to Mr Robert Kahimise, the Chief Executive Officer of Erongo Red, these projects are scheduled to be completed in September at the tune of N$12mil lion. The contractors appointed for these projects are C-Power Investment CC for Anixab and Tubusis, NBT Quality Services for Omatjete and Otjohorongo and Walters Electrical for Okombahe.
“In parallel to this project, we have also identified localities in peri-urban areas of Karibib, Omaruru and Usakos. Our Engineers are busy with the planning and designs and soon we will go out on tender. We are aiming to connect over 650 households to the grid including the peri-urban electrification. Of course, while it is important that we make electricity accessible, it is equally important to ensure that the network is robust enough to carry additional load” adds Kahimise. This project will be an ongoing project to connect the unconnected to the grid. In December 2013, Erongo Red connected 165 houses in Uis. In 2014, they connected 32 houses in Karibib, 71 in Usakos, 20 in Henties Bay, 51 in Omaruru and 111 houses in Otjimbingwe.
“We know that with access to affordable, reliable and safe power, the livelihood of our people will be transformed. Children will study for longer hours without having any harmful health effects that is caused by use of kerosene lighting and people in these communities will now have opportunity to engage in small business space,” said Kahimise. He further said that there might be people asking why this village was not electrified, or when is it going to be our turn “well the answer is simple, we are coming, and they must just be patient with us, slow but surely we shall be there soon”.
Kahimise also said that Erongo RED has implemented measures to cushion the tariffs for pensioners and the low income segment of the community. All registered pensioners and low income people in the community qualify for free prepaid meter installation and subsidised electricity up to 30 amps and pensioners on conventional meters do not pay basic charges for domestic use. “Since the introduction of this initiative many pensioners and low income segment of our community have benefited from this arrangement. To date, over 4000 pensioners are registered and this is costing us approximately over N$ 10 million per annum. I am happy to say that most of the recipients from these projects will also benefit from subsidised electricity starting at a low rate of N$1.26 per kWh” emphasised Kahimise.