Energy services in Namibia does play a critical role in development activities that spans from heating for cooking, motive power, lighting and cooling (refrigeration). In spite of the fact that energy remains an indispensable instrument for human survival and development in Namibia, access to energy and its services is limited and varies dramatically between the 13 regions.
In order to assess the scale of energy poverty in Namibia (i.e. the lack of access to commercial energy services by poor households), the 1993/94 Household Income and Expenditure Survey records generally that there is a pervasive lack of commercial energy services in Namibia. This can be assessed from the disaggregation of main languages spoken in Namibia, thus giving a fair idea of disparities across regions.
Table 2: Selected Economic Welfare Indicators by Language Groups
| Language |
Lighting without Electricity |
Bush or bucket as Toilet |
No Pipe or well within 5 Minutes |
TV Owned |
Phone owned |
Motor Vehicle |
English
Afrikaans
German |
5
20
0 |
2
6
0 |
0
3
0 |
80
70
81 |
83
64
96 |
69
59
91 |
Damara/Nama
Otjiherero
Kwangali
Lozi
Oshiwambo
San
Tswana
Other |
69
69
93
93
87
97
47
90 |
36
57
85
85
70
79
11
85 |
18
36
70
45
64
53
0
72 |
18
17
6
4
6
2
33
8 |
11
15
2
3
4
0
33
8 |
13
22
6
8
12
2
19
10 |
| Namibia |
73 |
57 |
45 |
19 |
17 |
20 |
Source: Central Statistic Bureau, 1993/94 NHIES
The data shows that there are dramatic differences in terms of access to commercial energy services across different language groups where the English, Afrikaans, and German communities are having the highest access. The lighting without electricity is highest for example within all “black” population suggesting that there is a high shortage of electricity among these groups and that they are reliant mostly on firewood candles, dung, kerosene etc. The statistics show that the “white” population enjoys modern energy carriers, such as electricity and/or liquid or gaseous fuels. The data also shows that the “black population” is not having adequate access to proper infrastructure for sanitation and water suggesting that they are engaged in water pumping and/or walking distances to fetch water at some distant point. The majority of the “black” population does not possess TV, phone and motor vehicles suggesting that they are using storage batteries for communication/entertainment and walking as a form of transport energy.
It can also be inferred that taking the recent Population Housing Census results as well as the 1993/94 NHIES, that about 27 percent of households (not only “whites” per se) does have full access to commercial energy services whilst about 73 percent are lacking such services, using lighting without electricity as the proxy for such a exercise. This analysis does not indicate a distribution of racial categories but the uneven disparity of the whole population in terms of the access they enjoy of commercial energy services.
It can also be concluded with the absence of data, that the lack of commercial energy services could be more severe in rural areas of the Namibian economy where about 70 percent of the population are residing.
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