By Lungani Zungu
An 18.65% electricity hike as well as stage 6 load shedding has pushed small businesses to the brink of shutting down.
Sizwe Msomi told Scrolla.Africa that the ongoing load shedding is crippling his tyre-repairing business in Umlazi, south of Durban.
“Some of the machinery requires electricity to work. I am forced now to close whenever there’s load shedding. I don’t see my business surviving should the rolling stage load shedding continue,” said Msomi, who employs three full-time workers.
Another small business owner, Sthabile Ngcongo, painted a grim outlook for her salon in Isipingo, in Durban, should load shedding continue unabated.
“Even now as we speak, my salon is closed because we haven’t had electricity. This means a loss of revenue for the business. This is painful because it is small businesses like mine who are suffering. We can’t even afford to buy generators,” she said.
Ngcongo opened her salon business seven years ago, and with the Eskom tariff increase coming in April, she may be forced out of business.
“If load shedding continues at this rate, I will be forced to close shop. I am operating at a loss currently,” she said.
A car wash owner from Protea Glen in Soweto took to Twitter to express his frustration amid the blackouts.
“I am pleading with our government to fix Eskom or else many businesses will be forced to shut down, which will result in more people unemployed,” he wrote.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted 18.65% after Eskom earlier proposed the tariff be increased by 32% last September.
The power utility reported a loss of R12,3 billion for the year that ended in March 2022, explaining that the increase will help pay off its debt.
“It is evident that both Eskom and Nersa are aligned [in the view] that every effort needs to be made to improve the energy availability factor at Eskom power stations,” the utility said in a statement, welcoming the tariff hike.
