Generator sales soar amid load shedding

Businesses say since the start of the week, they have experienced more of a demand for back-up electricity generating equipment for both residential and business purposes than before.

“Our landlines are ringing non-stop. Small and medium business owners and households have been purchasing generators since the start of the week," John Dunbar, a salesman at the Germiston-based Engine Application, told BuaNews.

“So far we have given over 200 quotations for small petrol generators and about 70 quotations for diesel generators which are used for businesses. People are coming in their numbers.”

Dunbar said small businesses seem to have been the hardest hit as most of the quotations have been requested by these business owners.

Bora Unuvar, operations manager for NexGen Power Systems told BuaNews his business had also been flooded by home owners and small business owners wanting to buy generators, making his business more successful than before.

“There has been a change in our business as this kind of business is not always viable,” he said.

Unuvar said a small petrol generator, normally for household use costs R9,000 while a diesel generator used for businesses cost between R150,000 to R1.5 million.

Nico van Rensburg of Krugerdorp-based VR Engineers, which only sells industrial-sized generator machines, told BuaNews since the start of the power outages the company had sold all the 20 machines that he had in stock.

“As we only cater for industrial market, the business is brilliant for us, we have run out of stock but we have ordered more machines to keep this going,” he said.

Van Rensburg said his generators fetch from R130,000 to R2 million each.

Loading shedding 'interventions'

Government on Thursday said it was looking at a number of interventions to ease the situation of load shedding. These will be part of the discussions at the forthcoming Cabinet Lekgotla.

On Wednesday, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica met with officials from her department, the Department of Public Enterprises and the Eskom's Chief Executive Officer Jacob Maroga to discuss Eskom's high demand and shortage of capacity.

Minister Sonjica said she would ask the National Energy Regulator, as the statutory body that is charged with monitoring quality of supply, to look into ways of improving system reliability as well as look for opportunities for improvements in Eskom's maintenance regime.

The meeting was necessary as part of the ongoing sharing of information among those people responsible for the security of electricity supply in the country.

The Public Protector has also stepped in and is considering investigating Eskom's reasons for not being able to supply the country with enough electricity.

Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has requested Eskom to provide detailed information on the causes of the lack of electricity in the country and will check on whether measures were put in place by Eskom to prevent the situation.

In a letter to Eskom's CEO Jacob Maroga he said he had noted with concern the current load shedding practice was having a devastating impact on the lives of South Africans on a daily basis.

The electricity cuts were also affecting service delivery by government entities and causing serious prejudice to the private sector, he said.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews