Load-shedding cost billions – City of Cape Town
The recent bout of load-shedding, which badly affected small businesses, is estimated to have cost billions of rands, the City of Cape Town said on Wednesday.
In a statement the City said sentiment was unanimously shared across the sector that load-shedding has been crippling small businesses as most are unable to afford the costs associated with investing in a generator.
"Without a doubt, the cost to the economy is real and it is certain to cost billions of rands. In addition, the potential for businesses shedding jobs to keep trading is the intrinsic unquantifiable cost which we need to mitigate wherever possible," said Alderman James Vos, mayoral committee member for economic opportunities and asset management.
Cape Town contributes more than 70% of the Western Cape’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and in turn, the province contributes around 14% to the national GDP.
"It is therefore clear that the economic burden of load-shedding will be felt by Cape Town, as well as other economic hubs in the country. This is especially the case because industries, such as the manufacturing sector, are reliant on electricity as they are located in large urban areas," said Vos.
Economist Dr Azar Jammine has said the direct impact of load-shedding on the South African economy was between 0,1% and 0,2 % of the GDP.
In the Western Cape, the City’s green economy partner GreenCape conservatively estimates that over the past two weeks and counting, load-shedding cost the economy R75-million an hour.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation