Residents and businesses count cost of stage 6 load-shedding

Nobody in Buffalo City has been spared the cost of load-shedding as local businesses and residents struggle to cope with life under stage 6. 

Paige Ramsamy works at Posh Wash Laundry in Beacon Bay with his parents Shantal and Faizel, who own the business.

He said ongoing load-shedding meant they often could not operate. 

“When power is out for three hours we’re barely able to operate and work piles up,” he said. 

“Customers at home can’t do their laundry but we can’t do it either.”

Ramsamy said the business could not afford a generator. 

“It’s hard trying to operate as a business and earn income when for three hours or more a day you have no power.

“We’re trying to bear this load and help our customers but there’s only so much we can do.”

For Book Lounge owner Jessica Simons, stage 6 hit hard as she only opened her business two weeks ago. 

“We’ve had three hours a day when we can’t operate. Customers come in for coffee but we can’t serve them.”

Simons said this created a bad first impression which ultimately hurts the business. 

She said it was especially bad when the power was out from noon to 3pm during the traditional lunch rush. 

“We don’t have a generator. It’s quite expensive, especially for a small business. It’s not feasible,” she said. 

“We didn’t expect to have load-shedding at stage 6. I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

Brett Dewilzen, owner of The Watch Battery & Sports Relay in Beacon Bay, said load-shedding was driving his customers away.

“Customers don’t come in. We’ve got inverters but when they see we’re in darkness they don’t come in because they think we are closed. If you haven’t got lights, they don’t come in.

“As long as your card machine works, you can do business but the customers don’t like coming into a dark shop.”

He has had to replace the batteries for his inverter regularly because load-shedding was causing them to burn out. 

Pot O’Curry owner Tubs Lingham said while load-shedding had led to more customers placing orders, the cost and the frustrations of operating under difficult circumstances was stressful.

“The restaurant has doubled  orders because people can’t cook at home when the power’s off so they flock to restaurants and takeaways,” he said. 

However, load-shedding meant they could not serve their clients as fast as normal, and this for customers already frustrated.

Another stress for staff is the battle to see orders properly without lights, making it easier to make mistakes.

Lingham said when the power comes back the danger was power surges to the fridge and other appliances.

And maintenance of  those, as well as the generator, combined with increasing fuel prices, drives the cost of keeping the business running up and up.

Businesses aren’t the only ones hurting.

Residents are plunged into the doldrums in a number of ways by the continued power outages. 

The most common word that came up when readers were asked their opinions on load-shedding was “unnecessary”. Next was “the biggest inconvenience”. One reader just sighed in frustration.

“Load-shedding has forced us to plan our lives a lot better, from getting home in time to make supper to waking up in time to have a hot shower before our geysers stop working,” another said. 

Residents are also concerned about traffic lights being dead during load-shedding. Combined with the absence of street lighting, trips to anywhere suddenly become difficult and dangerous.

Red Alert manager Brett Harvey said they had received a rash of calls from customers whose batteries in their alarm systems had burnt out amid the constant load-shedding.

“What you have to understand is that they are not made for these conditions with frequent load-shedding.

“We are doing research to come up with other solutions, such as lithium-ion batteries that have a better charging capacity and last longer.

"But with high levels of load-shedding they will also eventually give up,”  Harvey said.

“We have been installing solar power and inverter systems, which work perfectly to keep all our customers’ security running, including electric fence, outdoor beams, CCTV and internal alarm system.”

DispatchLIVE