MBOMBELA – Residents whose gas ran out over the weekend was in for a surprise when they couldn’t refill the bottles, to cook and to braai.
The entire country has been experiencing a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the past two months, partly due to a regular increased demand in winter as well as load-shedding.
But this year an added challenge to supply is a large refinery’s maintenance shutdowns.
Local distributors in the area say their supply dried up about a week ago.
Mr Alec Blair, manager of Camp & Gas, says they have steadily been supplied with less than their demand over the past weeks, also from smaller manufacturers.
“We ran completely dry last Tuesday. We get some in drips and drabs. We are expecting to get some more in a few days.”
Ms Rene van der Merwe, local depot accountant at Total Gaz SA, says they have seen a huge increase in customers wanting gas due to load-shedding. She says they have received a lot of queries from customers unable to obtain gas. According to her, they were promised a delivery on Saturday, which never arrived.
“We have been dry for a week. We are hoping to get some soon but we can’t promise anything for the next two days.”
The companies say they have waiting lists according to which clients can order gas to be supplied as and when distributors obtain the product.
