Generator suppliers run out of stock

Since Friday, 18 January 2008, businesses selling generators had experienced more of a demand for back-up electricity generating equipment for both residential and business purposes than ever before.

Speaking to BuaNews on Wednesday, Director Buys Rassie of Lawnmower Clinics in Pretoria said things were getting worse everyday.

“It is so hurtful to turn customers away as we have ran out of stock, knowing that this was the right time for the business to make profit,” he said.

Also speaking to BuaNews on Wednesday, Director Nico van Rensburg of VR Engineers in Krugersdorp said though their customers were coming in numbers, they have to turn them away as their shops have now dried up.

“This is really bad for the business... the worst scenario to see would be companies closing down,” said Van Rensburg.

He said if generator suppliers had known long before that the country would experience major power cuts, the companies would have ordered more stock in advance.

“To make matters worse, we sometimes sell one machine to three customers and end up having had to pay their cash back due to insufficient stock.

“I have never had many customers in one week, let alone having had to turn them down because of the current situation... this is a serious loss for the business.

“It will take six up to eight months for things to come back to normal again as we order our machines from Germany,” said Van Rensburg, who has been in this business for more than 50 years.

He said normally, it takes about six to eight weeks for ordered stock to be delivered to suppliers before the machines are manufactured.

Briefing media on Tuesday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said South Africa's investment in alternative forms of energy from smaller suppliers and in renewable energy, affected an earlier decision the country made not to invest in mainstream electricity infrastructure.

Maseko was briefing reporters on the latest Cabinet meeting in a period when South Africans were experiencing widespread and frequent power outages.

"Some of the reasons why there wasn't investment in electricity infrastructure was largely due to a lot of process delays experienced at the time of implementation of that decision; there was at that stage also a consideration of other, alternative forms of investment in electricity infrastructure," Maseko said.

These alternative forms of investment included opening the energy-generation market to independent power producers - who, according to government targets, would provide as much as 30% of the country's energy needs.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews