Businesses suffer with load shedding
BUSINESSES continue to be affected by interrupted power.
Since last week Eskom has juggled between the higher stages of load shedding.
By Tuesday the country was running on the stage 4 schedule, with a change to stage 6 from 4pm that day.
The power utility is unable to meet the demand due to generation capacity constraints.
Farhana Amod, the owner of Bollywood Jewels in Denis Hurley (Queen) Street in the Durban CBD, said: “The effects on running my eastern jewellery shop are mounting. There is a decline in clientele.
“One of the reasons is that the robots don’t work, and this leads to chaos in town. Travelling here is just too much trouble.
“However, the biggest concern is theft. We have generators to keep the shop lit and functioning, but the cost of installing, running, and maintaining these backup systems is costly.
“The economy is already on its knees, and with the constant load shedding stages going up, our businesses are crumbling further.”
Raisa Hoosan, the owner of Raisa Hoosan Photography on the Bluff, said: “As a photography business owner, the primary equipment required is a camera, lighting equipment, and a computer.
“All of these devices need electricity to function correctly. Stage 6 of load shedding means that the power will be interrupted for six hours per day in intervals of 2 hours each time. This causes severe disruption to my business.
“Load shedding causes delays in meeting deadlines. For instance, if I have an assignment to take photographs for a client, I will need to edit the photos, and if there is no electricity, the editing process cannot happen.
“Having to capture an event and the electricity going off leads to me remaining at the venue longer than I was booked.
“Eventually, the photo shoot costs me more than I have quoted. This delay causes a ripple effect on the overall project timeline, leading to missed deadlines and dissatisfied clients.
“In addition, load shedding limits creativity that affects the quality of the photographs. This is due to not having electricity for proper lightning, and this results in unsatisfied clients.
“The current situation impacts the overall revenue of a photography business. Clients may then look for alternative service providers who can deliver their work on time without any disruption.
“Unfortunately, my business has been suffering as I cannot afford backup equipment.
“I remain with a loss of income. I try my best to work around this by working odd times when the electricity is back.”
Kumeren Govender, the co-owner of Phoenix Seafood and Poultry, said he went off the grid to save his business.
“Load shedding is bad for a seafood shop because of all the freezers and frozen food that we stock. I had to look for alternative ways to help keep my sales through load shedding.
“We are now working 50% off the grid with greenhouse power. This means we use solar power, but that doesn't mean we are out of trouble during load shedding because we still lack 50% of the power.
“To fill in the gap when there’s no power, we also use a generator, but with this alternative, we are making less profit because diesel is expensive.
“There are many ways in which load shedding changes our everyday business, but luckily I own the shop property. In this way, I am able to save and still price my goods at a cheap rate.”
In a statement, Daphne Mokwena, Eskom spokesperson, said a generation unit each at the Duvha and Medupi power stations was returned to service. In the same period, two generating units at Kriel as well as one unit at Koeberg power stations were taken off-line for repairs.
“The delays in returning a unit to service at Kendal, Kriel, Medupi and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints, and the team is working around the clock to ensure that these units are returned to service as soon as possible.”