One never quite realises one's dependency on something until it's not there anymore. In my case, it was our reliance on electricity, and when working in an online environment, a reliable power source is the be-all and end-all of your existence - for without it, you are technically rendered obsolete. However, it wasn't until recently that I actually factored in the cost of having such power at my fingertips. In the last week of July, just before Eskom's latest increase kicked in, I toddled off to buy my usual R300 electricity voucher, which usually runs my household for just over a month. So I was shocked to see that within the first 10 days of August, there was only enough to last another three or four days. OK, so we'd had another person in the house for a week and a half, which meant more hot water, another electric blanket and hair-styling tools on the go, but even then I couldn't believe how much we'd already gone through. Yet it was only when I found myself forking out another R300 in the last week of August that the mounting cost really hit home. R600 in a month? Our bill had essentially doubled... And even though in these last few years I've become conscientious about turning off lights that aren't in use, I'm now becoming obsessive even by my parents' standards. And if this is how badly I'm feeling it, I can only imagine the effect it's having on retailers and manufacturers. Let us know how hard you've been hit by the latest electricity increase by voting in our poll.

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor
retailnews@bizcommunity.com
Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive.
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