South African business owners say they possibly face closure as a result of constant power cuts.
Business owners in Johannesburg say with the increased cost of running generators, they are burning through profits and remaining open is unsustainable.
One business owner says, “It’s the same for every small business out there. You have to run generators. You working without power. I work with milk, a product that can spoil so I can’t take chances. We are basically burning profits. What we will do is increase pricing. You can’t absorb these costs. You have to charge for them. Who actually gets affected at the end, the person living on a day to day.”
Another owner says, ” It’s really difficult especially now because it’s hot. The aircons are not working, people don’t feel like sitting inside. The fryers are not working. Load shedding is affecting the business big time.”
CEO of Maqaqa Exclusive Lifestyle at Adams Mission, Hlengiwe Ngwabe says rolling blackouts forced them to buy generators they hadn’t budgeted for.
“In terms of our targets, I can say we did not reach them because of the challenges we had; the challenges of electricity and we have water challenges this side.”
VIDEO: Small businesses face dark future as rolling blackouts set to continue:
