MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Load shedding has serious implications for businesses in terms of petrol costs, staffing, logistics, client service and loss of trade.

The Mossel Bay Advertiser interviewed business owners and managers this week to find out how the power cuts were affecting them.

Security companies were among the hardest hit by the load shedding.

MSec security company area manager Marius Giani said: "When areas such as Reebok and Glentana have no electricity, this means 600 to 800 clients for us." MSec monitors alarm systems and provides an armed response service.

Giani said: "When the electricity goes off, we receive a 'power off' alert. Then, when there is an alarm activation, we do not know if it is a real activation or if it is because the power is off. We receive the alert and can't distinguish between a false alarm or not.

"Because of this, when there is load shedding, we have 80 reactions on a shift as opposed to our usual 15 reactions. We have to investigate all the alarm alerts we receive."

More staff
Giani explained: "Costs go up because you need to put in extra people to cover the increased number of signals. We need more controllers in the control room and our fuel account doubles because we have to respond to all these alerts and drive to clients."

He noted: "If the back-up battery of an alarm system is not 100 percent functional anymore, this also causes problems. The battery can last for eight hours, but if the power goes off for two hours in the morning, this is a problem.

"The battery actually takes a day to charge. Then you get a second load shedding in the day and the battery drains again and does not recover. The longer this takes place, the more likely the battery is to fail.

"Then when the electricity comes on, all these alarms ring."

Giani said MSec also monitors the cellphone towers for the cellphone service providers. "The batteries for the cellphone towers cannot keep up, so the cellphone networks are also under stress. We do the response to the cellphone towers." This was why cellphone service had been problematic during load shedding, he said.

Dentists affected
Hartenbos Tandartse dentist Dr Piet Kamfer told of the dreadful situation of having a patient in the dentist chair with the gums having been anaesthetised, the mouth cut open and drilling or some other complex procedure under way, when the electricity was cut off.

"What do you do? You are sitting there with an open hole in the mouth and or tooth and you cannot continue. This has happened to us. There are a hundred scenarios."

Dr Kamfer said: "Load shedding takes place at short notice. I have a generator here, but for months we have not had load shedding.

"Now to have got the generator going again is an issue. If machinery is left standing and not used, it breaks. Is there enough oil for it and so forth.

"You have to start the generator, you are full of oil and grease and dust. Unfortunately we don't have money for a fancy generator.

"Also, we have flickering lights which affect the computers. If they pack up, we will have chaos."

Dr Kamfer said that recently more than 60 appointments had to be cancelled. There are three dentists at his practice. "When do you fit these people in again? And some of the procedures needed are urgent," he points out.

"You lose money and at the end of the month, battle to make all your payments."

Senior citizens' complex
The manager of the Hartenbos-versorgingsoord senior citizens' complex, Johan Jacobs, said: "We have a generator, but every two hours, it uses R600 in diesel. If there is a power cut three times a day, it amounts to R600 multiplied by three, which is R1 800."

The generator is essential at the complex, where residents are dependent on apparatus such as oxygen machines.

"It you consider that the generator might run for 30 days, the cost is high."

Jacobs explained that this was not a cost he could ask clients to pay. "In the long term we will have to put up rental, if this continues. We hope it won't be long."

"We have a generator that powers the whole complex. We cannot be without one. We have a kitchen which prepares food for 85 people."

In terms of lighting, Jacobs points out that the lights must be left on, otherwise there is a security risk for the residents.

'I am not negative.'
"We bought the generator four years ago. It's a powerful one." He affirmed: "I am not negative. I still believe things will come right with our country."

Hairdressers are also affected by the power cuts and are unable to blow dry hair or use hair clippers for men's cuts when the electricity is down.

Businesses in town reported that they were not affected because there was no load shedding in town.

Hairdressers based near the Life Bay View Private Hospital in Da Nova and the Provincial Hospital in Linkside, near the Mossel Bay Golf Course, said they were not as badly affected by load shedding as other areas because they were "on the hospital line" and did not have power cuts.

Sandy Klue, owner of Streaks Hair Design, is across the road from Provincial Hospital. "If we do get a power cut, we use the generator."

Clients come back later
Hairdresser Norie Fouche of Hair Graphix in Heiderand said: "Sometimes, if there is load shedding, our clients go and do some shopping and then come back later for a cut when the power is on again.

"It is a loss to us in that we can't blow dry the hair during load shedding. Fortunately we have good lighting in our salon and can see well when there is a power cut. It's not like salons in the mall, which are dark when the lights go off."

Nico van der Merwe, the owner of Unic Security, said: "The power cuts have definitely affected daily running of the business. On the administration side we make sure the computers are running as they should be.

"We change the computers over to the generator. The monitoring equipment must be on generators. This puts pressure on us.

"We are very busy. We have the extra cost of fuel for the generators. We receive false alarm alerts. People's batteries on their alarms are going flat.

"The battery is not strong enough; the alarm is not giving a strong enough signal.

"Also, most garage doors have back-up batteries. People should be servicing their back-up batteries; they need to take stock of that.

Back-up batteries

"It's our clients' responsibility to ensure their gate and garage door have back-up batteries. The life span of batteries is shortened. It's the same with the electronics of alarms, the power cuts influence them.

"If you know the power is going off, it is advisable to switch off your TV and appliances and alarm and CCTV cameras. This is a schlep. When the power comes back on, there is a high stream of electricity, many kilowatts."

Businessman Albert Wiffen, who owns hotels and restaurants in Mossel Bay, said: "We have generators, but don't have full generators. Certain appliances, such as fridges don't work."

We don't have big enough generators to operate everything, so we operate on a limited menu.

"Load shedding is bad for the economy as a whole and devastating for a lot of places."

Wiffen said it was hard to quantify the loss he was suffering during load shedding. "We are open and running and won't let this get us down," he emphasised.

Dr Piet Kamfer, Charles Munro and dentist's assistant Aneen Kapp co-operated in staging this  photograph to show they look on the bright side of life. Photo: Jannie du Plessis

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