In 2008 rolling blackouts became part of the South African reality.
Compounding this, recent failures in the Eskom infrastructure and supply have added to an already critical electricity supply situation.
It is also emerging that even with new power stations in the pipeline, Eskom will be unable to overcome critical power supply constraints for at least the next 10-15 years, and the cost of power will have to increase dramatically in order for the country to be able to do so.
The price of electricity has increased by 78% over the last three years, and is likely to increase by at least 16% year-on-year for the foreseeable future!
Euphemistically called load shedding, the power outages we will be experiencing are designed to reduce the critical load on the power supply grid in an equitable way across the entire country.
But rather than cripple big industry, Eskom is intent on cutting power on a regular basis to residential areas, to save up to 10% of the demand on the national grid at any one time, and more during emergencies and peak usage.
And herein lies the problem, most small businesses, the ones most likely to drive employment and the livelihood of ordinary South Africans are located in ... , you guessed it - Residential Areas!
And these are the businesses least likely to be able to afford to replace lost production due to regular blackouts and be able to absorb the future costs of electricity.
It is for this reason that business and home owners need to secure supply of electricity to their premises as soon as possible.
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