Local authorities and regional councils in ||Kharas and Hardap owe NamPower millions of dollars, with Mariental Municipality carrying the largest reported debt at N$295.9 million.
The figures were presented by Urban and Rural Development Minister James Sankwasa at a Southern Regional Electricity Distributor (SORED) shareholders' meeting in Keetmanshoop on Friday.
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security Edward Wambo, ||Kharas Governor Dawid Gertze, Hardap Governor Riaan McNab, regional and local authority councillors, and SORED board members attended the meeting.
Discussions focused on the way forward for establishing SORED, an initiative that has been under discussion for years.
According to figures presented by Sankwasa, as of 24 September 2026, the ||Kharas Regional Council owed NamPower N$16.4 million, while the Hardap Regional Council owed N$10.7 million.
In Hardap, Mariental Municipality had the highest reported debt at N$295.9 million, followed by Aranos with N$71 million, Maltahöhe with N$40 million, Gibeon with N$28 million, Kalkrand with N$13 million, Gochas with N$8.6 million and Stampriet with N$4.7 million dollars.
In ||Kharas, Karasburg owed N$74 million, Keetmanshoop N$32 million, Luderitz N$26 million, Bethanie N$24 million, Tses N$16 million, Koes N$15 million, Berseba N$9.5 million and Aroab N$8.5 million.
"Hardap Regional Council ,||Kharas Regional Council should know what our responsibility towards SORED is. Every local authority must identify what our responsibility towards SORED is. Again, standing alone has already failed; the reason we have such high bills is because each local authority has been standing alone. So I encourage whoever the local authority is in these two regions to come part of the bigger picture, the biggest operation."
Sankwasa urged local authorities to confront their financial difficulties and agree on a practical roadmap towards SORED's full operation.
He also called on them to begin addressing their NamPower debts before November.
Hardap Governor Riaan McNab and ||Kharas Governor Dawid Gertze backed the establishment of SORED, pointing to the need for a collective response to mounting electricity debt and improved service delivery.
"We can strengthen our collective resolve and find lasting solutions to the serious debt problem we are facing and to the challenges before us. We have come together because the debt owned by our respective local authorities to Nampower has reached a serious and unstainable level."
"SORED must mean benefit, not for the board, not for the participants, but for the entire residents so that we add value to their livelihoods and efficiently and effectively deliver service, which is currently not the case, to be exact."