I am situated in the same street as M&P Truck Bodies, the company which wrote the initial letter to the Alberton Record.
The power issue is not a new one. We have been in our premises going on nine years now and it has been an ongoing issue of either no power or a phase missing on our three-phase power, which basically is like having no power.
I would hate to sit down and calculate how much money we have lost due to production deadlines not being met, cancellations, not being able to take orders due to bad turn around time and, obviously, the damage to electronic equipment that is caused by the spikes.
The last technician I spoke to, a few years ago, said that the other technicians were just coming out and replacing fuses, instead of actually investigating what the cause was.
Back then we had ongoing problems for about five months, costing us around two working days each week in that period.
Eventually, that same technician found a faulty cable, notified all of us in the street that he would need to shut us down for one day and sort out the problem properly, which he did.
It’s truly frustrating trying to run a business like this and be profitable.
The other thing that is not fair at all about the situation is that, being zoned as ”industrial”, we pay a fixed amps fee. This amount is charged monthly regardless of consumption. In our complex it’s close to R6 000. That’s a fixed monthly charge, then our usage is charged additionally. So, basically, we are paying, even though we are not getting the supply that we pay for.
I’m hoping you can get the right people involved to sort out the problem.
Oz Osborne
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan has said that it will fix the problem, but weeks after the initial story came to light, the RECORD is still receiving calls and letters from businesses who are without power.
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