NORED customers in the Oshana Region owe the electricity utility N$3.6 million.

Of this, N$734,000 has been outstanding for more than a year.

The information was shared during the hearing of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources and Development at Oshakati on the motion to write off historic electricity and water debts in the Oshana, Oshikoto, and Otjozondjupa Regions.

The motion was tabled by the Landless People's Movement's (LPM) MP, Henny Seibeb.

NORED is mandated to supply and distribute electricity to eight regions and 18 local authorities.

Its Stakeholders Management Executive, Toivo Shovaleka, presented the outstanding debts owed by Oshana Regional Council, Ondangwa, and Ongwediva town councils.

Ongwediva has a monthly bill of N$469,000 with zero outstanding, and Shovaleka referred to them as a good customer and shareholder and wished that others could follow suit.

Shovaleka says other defaulters are government ministries that owe NORED N$672,000.

The outstanding monies owed by state-owned enterprises stand at N$1.2 million, while private entities owe N$1.6 million.

NORED says debts owed by stakeholders in the Oshana Region can be recovered, and they will not be written off because they do not qualify to be termed historic debts.