Businesses in town try to cope with power outages

After load shedding from 1pm on Monday, 10 February and a subsequent power interruption till nearly 8pm, another surprise was in store for residents of Standerton the following morning.

The power dipped repeatedly and social media was abuzz as to the reason.

According to a post on social media, the Lekwa Municipality conducted necessary maintenance.

The Standerton Advertiser took to the streets on Tuesday, 11 February and made a few enquiries at a few businesses in Burger Street, Kerk Street and Beyers Naudé Street as to the effect on their establishments.

The doors of hairdressing salons stood wide open to allow some light coming in.

One such owner said he had bought R450 worth of airtime the previous day and customers arrived in the morning, but departed.

He has no generator and neither does another salon where the occupant was seen taking a nap on the sofa.

Food preparation naturally comes to a standstill without the benefits of a gas stove.

Mr Tariku Abeto, who has been in business for six years, said not many customers entered his shop.

His staff was waiting at the back for the power to be switched on.

A stationery shop had no other option as to accept only cash, with their generator not working, which plays havoc during cashing-up.

“We lose many customers,” the manager, Ms Wilma Heunis, said.

Employees at a retail furniture shop said they were not allowed to talk to the media.

Onto a coffee shop in Beyers Naudé Street, where the owner, Ms Joanne Boer, had no qualms about speaking about the predicament.

“I can’t plan if I don’t know when an outage is due,” Ms Boer said.

She did however, touched on noise and air pollution when generators are on.

The electricity came back on at 10.15am.