By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Hangala
Since 2023, domestic monthly electricity sales have only reached 400,000 MWh once, and have been stuck below 340,000MWh for the past 39 months.
Electricity sales are one of the main indicators of economic activity in the country.
According to the electricity sectoral report for April 2026 as compiled by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), the country’s monthly electricity consumption/sales is stuck between 310,000 MWh and 340,000 MWh since 2023.
This can be interpreted as that the country’s economic activities remaining at the same level with minimal changes.
This is based on the fact that electricity is the main input into the production of goods and services; thus, the direct linkage, except for a few manual-based productions.
The stagnation or minimal changes in electricity consumption is also supported by the Real GDP growth figures from 2023 to 2025, showing that the country has only added N$8.5 billion worth of goods in 3 years.
Monthly domestic electricity sales as an indicator of economic activity also show that the Large Power Users (LPUs) and mining companies are barely increasing their electricity consumption.
In other words, their operations are kept at the same level or change marginally.
This also implies that with no expansion of operation/output or building of new enterprises, there are also limited employment opportunities.
Domestic electricity sales to farms under the main supply category contributed less than 2%, according to the NSA.
Meanwhile, the “Water Pumping” and “Commercial – LPU” categories ranked fifth and sixth, accounting for 0.84% and 0.78%, respectively, of large consumers.
This highlights various factors such as the country’s commercial farming size and off-grid farming operations.
The Namibian economy is expected to create job opportunities for a large pool of unemployed (mostly) youth, yet economic activity indicators are showing only marginal changes.
This signals few jobs, as more opportunities are linked to a high increase in economic activities or operational expansions.
The country has now placed hopes in various emerging sectors, investment in agriculture, new mines, and the platform economy for more jobs.
erastus@thevillager.com.na
