Sold out, thanks to Eskom. Thoughts of countering Eskom’s festive season load shedding may be too late – East London’s two leading generator suppliers, TKY and Thesen’s Generators, are out of stock of the most popular brands, and many national wholesale suppliers are in the same position.
Restocking before Christmas is not possible.
“There has been a tremendous demand. I suppose our industry must be the only one not cursing Eskom,” said Phil Puttergill, TKY owner.
“A lot of households want smaller models. Businesses need larger machines, because they cannot afford to be without full power over December, their busiest period. Unfortunately, we can’t supply either big or small. Our national suppliers are also out of stock. They place advance orders with overseas manufacturers, on a three-monthly basis. The latest load shedding saw them sold out in a day, so there is no chance of them renewing stock.”
John Johnson, a partner at Thesen’s, said in the past week they had sold over 100 smaller generators from their East London shop, mainly for household convenience.
“The demand goes right through to the larger machines for homes, up to 6.5 kVA, which keeps homes and small businesses operating at the same rate as Eskom.”
What many prospective generator owners don’t factor in to their purchase price is ongoing cost, said Puttergill.
While running a small unit is relatively cheap, large retailers and manufacturers, which draw a lot of power and need upward of 600 kVA machines, can spend up to R20,000 a day on diesel, if Eskom’s load shedding moves from a few hours to longer periods.
Dual Generators deals only in larger custom-built machines for companies that cannot do without power, said David Townes, who owns the company.
“With predictions that Eskom will be forced into a five-year load shedding pattern, companies that avoided buying in 2015 will have to rethink.
“Existing clients will also have to increase spending on maintenance.”
After the generator sales surge in 2014 and through 2015, the lights came back on and many neglected household generators will now need a service to fire up again...