Load shedding kills businesses

JOHANNESBURG – Nationwide electricity woes have been experienced not only by communities, but also the businesses within those communities.

With rolling blackouts by Eskom set to continue until next year, many businesses have opted to close over the festive season due to them losing revenue during power cuts and load shedding. Eskom has reported on many occasions that load shedding was necessary due to attempts to build up power reserves.

Some experts say that small businesses could have saved themselves by purchasing generators in the past two years, as Eskom had already been rolling out load shedding in parts of the country. But businesses are blaming Eskom and load shedding for their woes.

A lack of foresight could be what has cost these businesses thousands in revenue and in some cases, having cost them the entire business as many have been reported in the media to be closing their doors due to not having sufficient operational costs due to load shedding.

Cllr Sergio Dos Santos revealed to residents on his Facebook account that at least four Eskom generators were lost, and that rolling blackouts would be imminent until three of Eskom’s generators are fixed.

According to BusinessTech, Eskom earlier said supplies at its pump storage power stations had been restored and there would be no blackouts during the week. At the weekend, Eskom and municipalities resorted to stage three power cuts.

Another issue affecting the country and City Power, was the staggering amount of copper cables stolen monthly in the country, the cost running into billions.