It has come to the attention of the Electricity Control Board (ECB) that the City of Windhoek is charging electricity tariffs not approved by the ECB. As electricity regulator, it is the function of the ECB to ensure compliance with the Electricity Act and to protect the interest of electricity customers. The ECB regards the charging of unapproved tariffs as a serious transgression of the Electricity Act, the parastatal said this week. "We have taken this matter up with the relevant Government institutions involved so as to ensure that there is compliance with Electricity Act", according to its legal advisor Jacky Scholz.

On 8 June 2006, the City approached the ECB with an application for the increase of their tariffs. It should be noted that the ECB does not randomly approve tariffs but follows a structure methodology based on revenue requirement of the licensee and rate of return. This tariff methodology is applied consistently with regard to all licensees. The ECB approved an average increase for Windhoek of 10.2%. These tariffs are already cost reflective and "higher increases would lead to an over recovery from electricity customers," the ECB says. Since publishing their tariffs in the Government Gazette, the City has on charged their customers 7% more than the ECB approved schedule of tariffs. In so far as the CoW charged tariffs not in accordance with the schedule of approved tariffs the ECB intends to enter discussions with the CoW as to how customers should be compensated in the event of overcharging. Once final agreement and direction have been obtained the ECB will inform the public of what has been decided on. "The ECB wishes to assure the public of its commitment to ensure that customers are charged reasonable tariffs for their electricity and that the electricity legislation is being complied with," the electricity regulator said this week.