The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a sombre “Energy Crisis” panel discussion on Friday, 13th February, which was attended by many business leaders in the region. The aim of the meeting was to discuss possible solutions to
address the troublesome effects of load shedding. Lost productivity, disgruntled staff and customers, and failed deliveries contribute to some of the costs incurred by the private sector. Many SMMEs have limited resources with which to respond to load shedding’s inconveniences. The purchase of generators is costly as well as having to meet the demand to repairs to equipment such as computers, fridges and air conditioning units whose operation is affected both by power surges and interrupted electrical current. Hans Beier, Chairman of Beier Industries in Pinetown said that the two-hour cuts were very disruptive and caused a severe loss in turnover. Unexpected load shedding also caused material loss and damage to machines when not switched off timously. He added, “It takes us at least one and a half hours to get going again.” Beier proposed that a longer period of load shedding
per block would be better for business, rather than the standard 2½ hour power cut. There was consensus that a six hour block or even a 12 hour block would be more manageable, but then no load shedding for the rest of the week. Beier also proposed that a committee consisting of members of the public, the Chamber, Eskom and eThekwini municipality be convened to address the various issues raised at the highest possible levels. Lee Bridges, of Umgeni Iron Works, added that the company would prefer to voluntarily stop operation at the plant for one
day of the week and then have no more shutdowns for the rest of the time. He said the foundry, which was one of the biggest users of electricity in Durban could possibly cut electricity by 32% if a plan to allow for selfmanaged load shedding was
introduced.

However, he said, the 120-year-old company would find it hard to keep its doors open for another two years if present conditions continued. The issue of poor
communication was raised numerous times by both members of the panel and meeting attendees. Henk Duys of Duy’s Engineering said that Eskom must
assist manufacturers and industry to plan ahead for power cuts and emphasised the importance of consistent and reliable communication. A further point was that Eskom needed to stick to its published schedule as it was as disruptive to not have a planned for power cut as it was to have an unplanned one. Companies would then be able to use the down time more productively. Economic analyst, Clive Ramathibela-Smith described the current crisis as a “serious economic tragedy”. RamathibelaSmith emphasized that SMMEs had to struggle to cope with the effects of load shedding, which could make these businesses unsustainable. He suggested the implementation of daylight savings in South Africa, as dividing the country into two time zones could extend the peak times of power consumption. A relook at Eskom’s SADC contracts was also proposed as Eskom should focus on power supply demands within the country.

The impact of load shedding on the residential sector was highlighted by Vanessa Classen. Old age homes are badly affected and many cannot afford generators. She proposed that eThekwini Municipality and Eskom provide a subsidy for the
purchase of generators for needy organisations. The more effective use of technology can assist businesses to cope. It may be necessary to reduce the amount of IT applications used, and to move services offline. The importance of using cloud technology to back up data that could be potentially lost is of great significance in the current business conditions. The use of alternative energy
and the role of independent power producers was introduced by Marilyn Govender of the South African Sugar Association. There is much potential for additional power to be made available to the grid and this energy resource needs to be realised by the South African government at a much faster rate than it is currently progressing. Dumile Cele, chief executive of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, concluded the meeting stating that a report from the meeting, in addition to an accurate calculation of the financial losses experienced by Durban businesses and what jobs were under threat, would be presented to the city and
Eskom officials.