The City of Windhoek has urged pensioners to ensure they convert their electricity from postpaid to prepaid to benefit from the pensioner’s tariff.
City of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya says approximately 4 024 pensioners have been registered under the pensioner’s tariff, which is roughly 7,14% of all prepaid customers in Windhoek to date.
In order to benefit, pensioners need to complete the form titled ‘Pensioner’s application to be converted to pre-paid meter’. This form allows pensioners to transition from a postpaid to a prepaid meter to be installed at no cost, Amutenya said yesterday.
This comes after the municipality noted that despite pensioners in Windhoek being eligible for a 50% per unit discount, many do not take full advantage of it.
This was revealed by City officials from the electricity department at a recent Katutura Central community engagement, held by the City of Windhoek in the constituency on Saturday.
Amutenya said senior citizens need to approach the municipality’s offices and register. This measure forms part of the City’s plan to lessen the burden of debt on senior citizens, said City officials.
The City provides discounted rates per unit of pre-paid electricity for homes owned by pensioners at N$1,67 from the N$2,47 paid by all other households.
“Once converted to this tariff, pensioners can buy the first 250 units monthly at this rate. Any units purchased beyond this limit will be charged at the domestic tariff,” said Amutenya.
The 250 units can either be purchased at once or in installments as finances allow, she added.
PREPAID METER UPGRADES
Meanwhile, the City of Windhoek has embarked on the distribution of Token Identifiers (TID) to update all prepaid electricity and water meters to comply with the required updates to continue functioning after the 24 November 2024 deadline, noted City officials at the meeting.
They said the TID roll-out field officers have already started visiting premises with prepaid meters to enter the two special tokens to update the meters and ensure that customers are able to purchase and recharge after the said deadline. “We have already completed the upgrading in Academia, Kleine Kuppe, Suiderhof, Cimbebasia, Eros and the CBD, and are currently busy with Pionierspark,” the official said, urging people to cooperate with City employees, who will properly identify themselves.
“Failure to get your meter upgraded by the set deadline will result in you being unable to load purchased electricity codes in your meter and thus render it unusable,” said Amutenya.
SET ASIDE
Residents with water and electricity debt who wish to subscribe to the prepaid water and electricity, can make arrangements with the City’s electricity department for their current debt to be set aside and serviced separately per month, while they maintain their prepaid services.
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