Photo by: Duane Daws
The Accéntuate group was investigating off-grid solutions, such as solar power, in answer to Eskom’s power supply woes, rather than finding a solution to load-shedding, said CEO Fred Platt on Monday as he announced the group’s year-end results in Johannesburg.
He said off-grid solutions were cheaper, and could pay for itself over a period of time.
“We have done the technical models and we are now looking at the financial models.”
Earlier this year, Accéntuate faced a situation where its East London flooring plant, employing 160 people, experienced load-shedding three to four times a week.
Two hours of load-shedding led to seven hours of downtime at the Accéntuate group’s flooring factory, explained Platt. Production output during this period also had to be scrapped, as the company used a continuous, heat-driven process.
Accéntuate served the construction, chemicals, infrastructure development and water treatment markets in South Africa.
Platt did not quantify the impact of load-shedding on the company in rand terms.
Apart from having an effect on the production process, load-shedding also saw management become despondent, he added.
“We have engaged Eskom and the Buffalo City municipality to find a solution. If it was more predictable, we could manage it better.
“We would [for example] be told we would have no power, so we would short-time our staff. Then, all of a sudden, we would have power, but we would have no staff.
“We were told we could have load-shedding at night, but that raised a number of on-site security and safety risks.”
Platt also questioned why big multinational companies, such as Mercedes-Benz South Africa, which had its plant in East London, faced no load-shedding.