KZN mall pays R15m on diesel

The owner of Durban’s Oceans Mall and Sibaya Casino, Vivian Reddy, says he spends about R30 million a year on diesel due to load shedding.

The KwaZulu-Natal businessman was one of many private sector stakeholders who met Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa in Durban on Tuesday to engage on energy challenges and interventions.

Reddy said KZN businesses were struggling. He said in a year the Oceans development in Umhlanga spent R15 million on diesel to run generators and ensure that businesses were not interrupted by outages, while the Sibaya Casino spent R12 million.

He said the government was aware of the challenges and of the costs incurred to keep businesses running during load shedding.

“As a result, the private sector is taking the lead. At Sibaya we are having to look at other alternatives. We are looking at solar and gas.

“We are not the only ones looking at other options, but we still experience pushback as there are not enough transmission lines to link the energy back to Eskom and that’s a big problem,” said Reddy.

He said Ramokgopa had the right energy and attitude to come up with solutions but believed he could be more honest about when load shedding would end instead of telling the public what it wanted to hear.

“This load shedding will not just disappear, it will be here for a long time. But with partnerships with the private sector I believe it can be lessened

“My prediction is that we are still about five years away from the end of load shedding,” said Reddy.

Other business people like Peter Thembane from South African Breweries asked the minister to be more specific on how many kilowatts were available and when. This was so that businesses could plan better and be part of the solution.

Many others felt there was too much red tape to penetrate the energy-producing sector and secure partnership with government.

Ramokgopa said he understood the challenges of load shedding and promised interventions that would help alleviate the situation.