Finger lickin’ bad: KFC to close some branches due to load shedding

Load shedding appears to have be in the process of taking on of its bigger victims, with fast food giant KFC announcing the closure of some of its branches.

Suppliers affected

In a social media post on its official pages on Facebook and Twitter, and on its website, KFC said due to ongoing load shedding affecting suppliers, “some of our restaurants will be temporarily closed”.

They said others may have “limited availability” on some menu favourites.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and will be back soon”.

Business as usual has long been a concept of the past as abrupt changes in deliberate power cuts continue to wreak havoc on the country’s economy.

ALSO READ: Govt apologises for ‘devastating’ load shedding

Small businesses hit hard

Small businesses are especially adversely affected, often being forced to incur unforeseen costs for generators and gas. This has forced many entrepreneurs to close up shop.

In July, Nova Economics calculated that stage 4 load shedding cost the economy around R950 million a day, and stage 6 closer to R1.5 billion a day, Moneyweb reported.

Speaking on Moneyweb’s SAFM Market Update radio show on Thursday night, Alexforbes chief economist Isaah Mhlanga, said Stage 6 load shedding alone may have already cost the economy R4.1 billion a day.

South Africa is currently on stage 2 and 3 load shedding.

ALSO READ: Load shedding: How businesses are attempting to adapt to an abnormal way of life

Eskom woes

Stage 5 and 6 load shedding has been implemented intermittently as Eskom continues to struggle with the breakdown of generating units, the Koeberg Nuclear power station being taken off the national power grid, and running out of money to buy diesel.

Last month, Eskom said it did not plan to order any more diesel until 1 April 2023, after exceeding its R11 billion diesel budget by about R1 billion.

This means that for the next few months, it will struggle to afford to run its diesel-powered emergency generation fleet through Open Cycle Gas Turbine power stations.

Eskom has incurred a net loss of R12.3 billion, it announced while presenting its annual results for the 2021/22 finanial year last week.

The state-owned enteprise’s debt currently sits at R396.3 billion, R45 billion of which is made up of municipal debt.

Despite a reduction in financial losses, which was reduced by more than 50% compared to the previous financial year, group CEO André de Ruyter lamented the utility’s lack of a normalised debt burden.

NOW READ: R12.3 billion loss: ‘Eskom could be profitable if not for debt burden’ – De Ruyter