Cape Town – Businesses have been left in limbo by the most recent wave of load shedding, for which there is no end in sight.
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry Janine Myburgh said yesterday the biggest problem facing business was that load shedding introduced uncertainties and made it difficult to plan ahead.
“We don’t know how long load shedding will last. It could be for many months. What business needs is certainty of supply, and if Eskom and the City cannot provide that, businesses will start to make their own arrangements.
"This means they will turn to rooftop solar and that will undermine Eskom’s future customer base. Load shedding also means Eskom will sell less electricity, and that will mean less revenue to pay the interest on its huge debts.”
Yesterday, Eskom continued with load shedding, which it said was the result of a shortage of capacity due to several generators still being out of service. It said the situation would worsen this week compared with the weekend.
"Load shedding is conducted rotationally as a measure of last resort to protect the power system from a total collapse or a blackout.
“We continue to appeal to residents and businesses to use electricity sparingly during this period.
"Please switch off geysers as well as all non-essential lighting and electricity appliances to assist in reducing demand.”
For Eskom customers, these schedules are available on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za).
Eskom customers can also contact the customer centre at 086 003 7566.
Meanwhile, the City said it had been able to avoid Stage 2 load shedding at the weekend in City-supply areas because customers had reduced the demand on the network.
“Although a load-shedding announcement is typically made with very short notice, simple interventions can mean the difference between keeping the lights on across the whole city and being shed as per the schedule.
"The City appeals to residents to use energy wisely and to be aware of what can be done to reduce the load on the grid,” the City said.