Load-shedding woes hit Durban business sector hard

Load shedding has resulted in business revenue losses and unplanned operational expenditure across industries and their value chains.

That's according to CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry Non- Profit Company (NPC), Palesa Phili.

The impact of load shedding on businesses came under the spotlight this week when the management of the Market Café Restaurant in Morningside, Durban, said they could no longer operate because of load shedding.

Owner of the restaurant, Avril Georgina Bedderson, said: "We've had to deal with Covid-19, floods, riots and consistent load shedding. We were able to sustain ourselves but could no longer do it with the consistency of load shedding. We don't have back-up power and it's too expensive considering we used so much of our resources to stay afloat."

Phili said load shedding continued to impact the economy across crucial economic sectors and the organisation is concerned about longer periods of load shedding.

“We are aware that many restaurants and businesses have been and continue to be impacted by load shedding. Achieving a sustainable and secure supply of energy is not definite, which causes uncertainty for businesses.

“As organised business, we recommend that, businesses and restaurants which continue to operate amid this energy crisis, explore alternate solutions such as inverters, generators, and solar systems.

“Many of the major banks are now offering financing solutions for the installation of solar systems. We believe this will aid businesses and provide a reliable solution,” said Phili.

The chamber was concerned about the return to load shedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country, after Durban was given a reprieve due to infrastructure damage caused by flooding last year.

Phili added that the organisation had been calling for the following intervention measures to be considered to start the work of restoring the economy and tackling the issues that go with that:

• Consultation with the city in the rationale of how the schedule decisions are made and private sector to be given an opportunity to contribute to the proposed schedule.

• Reconsider the decision as Durban is still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 July civil unrest and the April 2022 floods.

• Make adequate provision for the South Durban Basin as the city’s electricity infrastructure in the South Durban Basin experienced severe damage because of the floods.

"The highly vulnerable state of the electricity network in the South Durban Basin is a cause for concern for our members. We urge the City to consider the proposed interventions and need provincial and national intervention in the discussions regarding this matter.

“If we continue on this direction, we are headed for more catastrophic business collapse which we are not sure if we will recover from. The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes more needs to be done to move towards energy security in the country and in the city.

“Energy generation should be led by the private sector to rapidly expand the generation capacity in the country and in eThekwini," said Phili.

This week the eThekwini Municipality confirmed that following discussions with Eskom, the city’s loadshedding schedule was being revised, and a new schedule will be effective from May 25.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE