Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry says businesses are in a panic
The increase in cost of electricity will have a horrible domino effect on us all, says local business owner.
Local small businesses are panicking following the 18,65% electricity tariff hike to be implemented in April.
“People are panicking, angry, and frustrated and they feel we should not be paying for the bad management and pilfering that has been going on at Eskom,” Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO, Linda Blackbeard told Randburg Sun.
“It does not matter if it was 1%, 10%, or 30%, there should be no increase that the person on the street should be paying for Eskom’s incompetence. Everyone will be affected by this tariff, whether they are in food, manufacturing, media, or anything. When the electricity goes up, everything else does too. People start the new year trying to be positive and then they are hit by this.”
Levi Mnguni, who runs a stationery shop that is online as well, told Randburg Sun his businesses will be hit hard.
“My suppliers will push the cost over to me and then I will have to increase my price to the customers,” he said.
“Except customers are already struggling financially and some of them will now not be able to pay. It has a horrible domino effect.”
Mnguni said the tariff hike was not fair at all and this was the worst possible time it could have been implemented.
“Some are still recovering from lockdown and now we have load-shedding and this. Also, greater expenses mean businesses like mine will be unable to create jobs.”
He alluded to the illegal electricity connections many South Africans source their power from.
“I was driving through Soshanguve and the whole community is getting free electricity. I use the word ‘free’ sparingly because paying customers are bearing the brunt of this. Eskom needs to get their affairs in order, and they could save so much if they took these illegal connections down and kept them down.”
Blackbeard advised business owners to consider buying UPS and solar panels to keep computers and equipment running during load-shedding.
“The chamber has some battery packs for small businesses so they can contact us about these,” she concluded.
Details: Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry ceo@rcci.co.za
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