Load-shedding ‘worst thing that could happen in weak economy’

MBOMBELA – The last bit of trust in Eskom and government’s ability to deal with the situation has disappeared. This has led to business confidence plummeting.

Linda Grimbeek, chief operating officer of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT), says her biggest worry is people losing the confidence that they will be able to conduct business.

“They will not invest a single cent in projects, marketing campaigns, increased employment and expansion until they are 100 per cent sure of a turnaround.

“How can we be expected to build or rebuild an economy when we have no security of basic services such electricity – and water in some cases?”

READ MORE: No water in certain areas of Mbombela due to load shedding

She added that the unpredictability of load-shedding was the biggest factor. “If you cannot plan for something, the effect is worse than if you are warned in advance.”

“There are more dangerous impacts which we need to talk about. The tariff increase of more than 13 per cent which comes into effect in April will definitely cause a lot of business closures and reduction in staff, particularly in the Lowveld where businesses are lucky if they are running on a break-even scenario.

“This is the worst thing that could happen in this weak economy, along with the massive fuel increases.”

The chamber warned the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) earlier this year, before it granted Eskom a 9,41 per cent increase (on top of a 4,4 per cent increase granted in October), that their members had indicated they could afford an increase of between four and six per cent.

“Anything above that will have consequences. The only options available to businesses to ameliorate the adverse impact of electricity price increases are reduction of other operational costs, such as training, retrenchments and finally, business closure,” Grimbeek concluded.

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Mediclinic Southern Africa says the majority of the group’s hospitals across southern Africa have been equipped with a minimum of two emergency generators and UPS systems to ensure patient safety, and to enable the facilities to continue with business as usual during power outages.

“It costs approximately five times more to generate our own power as opposed to using Eskom’s, which equates to approximately an additional R135 000 for Mediclinic Southern Africa for every hour the hospitals are off the grid,” said Tertia Kruger, corporate communications manager.

“This equipment is backed by technical staff, who monitor all generators on-site during power outages to ensure that they function optimally.
“There are also strategically placed refuelling stocks available to supplement the 24-hour stock of diesel, which is available to each site.

“All systems (including ICT) are monitored on a 24-hour basis to enable immediate action should a fault occur.”

Robyn Baard, patient experience manager for Mediclinic Nelspruit, said, under the circumstances, they were coping quite well.

The provincial department of health spokesman, Dumisani Malamule, said a shortage of electricity is a challenge to their facilities.

“However, hospitals and community health centres has standby generators to continue providing critical services.”

ALSO SEE: Load-shedding has been downgraded to Stage 2