Restaurants and hotels have had to find innovative ways to keep operating through rolling blackouts in a bid to cash in on the festive season.
From a bike that can generate electricity to make smoothies for breakfast to the braais outside and installing additional towel racks in bathrooms – the hospitality sector has introduced innovative ways to mitigate load shedding.
Eskom ramped up load shedding to stage 6 after the breakdown of eight generating units on Thursday night and Friday morning, as 16 672MW of capacity was unavailable due to breakdowns.
And with up to eight hours of blackouts a day, businesses have been struggling.
Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) Cape chairperson Lee-Anne Singer said the industry bore the brunt of load shedding, especially the small businesses that did not have capital to invest in alternative energy supplies.
Even for those who invested in other energy sources such as inverters and generators, to minimise the impact on their businesses, load shedding was “eating into profit margins” that were already squeezed as a result of a significant rise in diesel and inflation, said Singer.
“In fact, one could say profit margins are going up in smoke.”
While the holiday season had “potential to be one of the busiest yet”, Singer warned that the energy crisis would have a huge negative operational and commercial impact on the industry.
“Tourism is a catalyst for economic growth and job creation, therefore we need to have the basics in place: safety, safe roads, safe drinking and recreational water sources, and a consistent supply of electricity.
“Tick these boxes and the tourists will visit en masse,” she said.
Most restaurants that attracted visitors during this period indicated that they remained open for business even during power outages as they had backup systems that ensured continuous energy supply.
Other sectors experienced an adverse impact, according to the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI).
President Jacques Moolman said the recent Cape Chamber Business Environment Survey, finalised in November following input from business members and chamber partner organisations, found that energy was the second most critical issue shaping the current business environment.
“Energy was second only to transport infrastructure on the list of priority areas to be addressed.”
In total, 43% of the survey’s respondents said their power supply was unreliable, and 22% said supply was ‘extremely unreliable’.
“This suggests the load-shedding crisis is having a major impact,” said Moolman.
While the survey did not gather data on remote working, Moolman said one of the commercial property companies saw a rebound, reporting a widespread ‘return to the office’.
He said the company reported a less than 1% office vacancy rate within its portfolio.
Moolman reiterated that smaller companies bore the brunt of load shedding.
“The Western Cape government estimates a loss to the provincial economy of R500 million per load shedding stage. From our members we hear of widespread impacts even among larger companies able to afford generator power; the alternative power is not always sufficient to avoid all production disruptions.”
He said the chamber was working closely with public sector partners to remove bottlenecks in the procurement sector to fast-track the purchase of electricity from independent power producers in the province.
Weekend Argus