‘Load shedding costs us billions’
The Western Cape government estimates that rolling blackouts could have cost up to R12.3 billion over a year, a severe blow to the province’s economy, Weekend Argus reports
With load shedding well into a third consecutive week, businesses and South Africans are counting the cost of the ongoing power cuts as Eskom battles to keep the lights on.
MEC for finance and economic opportunities, Mireille Wenger, provided the figure to the newspaper after tabling the 2022/23 Provincial Economic Review and Outlook (Pero) report, where load shedding was sighted as a barrier to economic growth for a number of sectors.
“The impact of the rolling blackouts is devastating to businesses, especially small businesses, hitting them the hardest because they do not have the resources to buffer the shock that these interruptions create,” she said.
Wenger, however, remained adamant, that the Western Cape government was prepared “on all fronts should load shedding at this level continue”.
“We know that the ongoing impact of rolling blackouts is compromising economic growth and has led to an estimated one million fewer jobs nationally. That is why we are prioritising investing in our energy resilience.”
She added: “In 2021, provisional modelling estimates of the cost of load shedding to Western Cape economy was between R6bn and R12.3bn.”
A financial services provider, the Efficient Group, has conservatively estimated that the South African economy to be between 8% to 10% smaller as a direct consequence of load shedding, while Alexander Forbes estimated the cost of stage 6 load shedding at R4bn per day.
The Pero report highlighted how the average electricity generated in South Africa in 2021 was 6.9% less than at the end of 2011, despite the escalating cost of electricity on an annual basis.
This week, Eskom boss Andre de Ruyter agreed to a meeting with agricultural lobby group AgriSA's to discuss the outlook for load shedding in the coming weeks.
The group argued that prolonged load shedding could have an impact on food security.
"With load shedding escalating as South Africa enters the summer crop planting season, the current energy crisis may have implications for food security into the coming year unless farmers can put measures in place to mitigate against the effects of load shedding,“ AgriSA said.