Impact of load shedding on small growing businesses

Whenever we hear the words LOAD SHEDDING, we cannot help but have feelings of despondency and frustration, particularly to businesses that are housed in homes or buildings that do not have alternative power solutions like a generator or solar system. Businesses feel the loss of power the most, particularly smaller growing businesses that do not have the necessary infrastructure to help cope with the loss of power supply. Not only are businesses trying to whether the storm of the pandemic, they are now faced with the impact of load shedding.

When businesses experience load shedding, some of them are forced to close their doors because they cannot function or run their businesses as they do not have the infrastructure and security is compromised. Load shedding has the potential to breed theft as burglar alarms are rendered unusable or rather cannot operate at optimal levels and this leaves businesses vulnerable to theft and other criminal activities. Small businesses are faced with loss of profits during load shedding because in most cases they require electricity to function and run their businesses. A loss of profits is as a result of loss of production, where employees are essentially not working during periods of load shedding. Not all small businesses have the privilege of alternate power supply. Just with stage 2 of load shedding over the last couple of weeks, South Africa has been said to have lost R2billion.

Small growing businesses are at the heart of South Africa’s economy as they provide employment to majority of South Africa’s population and 3 to 4 hours without electricity has major financial implications on these businesses. Not only do businesses loose production and profits, they have no access to Wi-Fi which relies on electricity and when businesses are not able to connect to the network, they may miss important information or not have the ability to send out quotations, invoices,etc. Load shedding affects traffic lights – this can potentially result in missed meetings, arriving late at work or deliveries delaying and goods not arriving on time. Although load shedding schedules are provided and businesses may try plan accordingly and try incorporate the schedule times in their business operations, this is not a sustainable long term solution.

Impact of load shedding on small growing businesses

When businesses get affected, this trickles down to the economy. In a report by CSIR energy centre from 2019 where South Africa experienced the worst load shedding, it costed the economy between R60 billion and R120 billion. Already by then it was predicted that load shedding would last up to 3 years and since then, no action has been implemented to turn the situation around to ensure that SA’s energy sector recovers. Load shedding leads to further job losses and in turn results in lower production, spending, and further negatively affecting the economic growth of the country.

Roosouw the former chair of Energy Intensive Users Group stated: ‘I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I see a big train coming down the tunnel at us. We are going to see load shedding and for much longer.’ Load shedding is part of the reason why the economy is unable to lift itself out of a low growth environment. It is rather difficult for growth to take place when there is no power. Businesses flourish in an environment of consistency and are often uncertain about how much to produce given the circumstances of load shedding and it determining the level of output.

While we navigate this period and season, businesses can look into various ways to minimise the impact of load shedding on their businesses. Firstly, keeping up to date with the load shedding schedule can assist in terms of planning around the operations of your business and maximise when there is power. Secondly, try to switch off all appliances or plugs when the electricity goes off, because the surge of electricity when the power returns upsets the steady voltage flow in the electrical system and can cause damage to electronic components.

Businesses should also look into alternative energy solutions. The costs of switching to a solar system or purchasing a generator may be high, however, the advantage of having these alternative solutions in place for when load shedding occurs, far outweighs the cost. When there is consistency of electricity, businesses are better able to plan and run their businesses without any fear of losing stock, or losing production time or not even been able to attend to meetings and flag presentations. Lastly, back up your data – this should be a routine procedure in any workplace or organisation.

With a backup system in place, there shouldn’t be any worry when load shedding occurs. It goes without saying that load shedding is an inconvenience to most and so it is important to use sensible, smart and creative ways that can help minimise the impact of load shedding.