The influence of continuous electricity supply on selected commercial customers in Klerksdorp

Abstract

The electricity shortages that occurred in the recent years have negatively affected both businesses and the South African economy. Power shortages, together with high electricity tariffs, have made it difficult for small and large businesses to reach daily production targets and desired profits. This research project examines the influences of interruptions to the con-tinuous electricity supply, by observing the impact of both power-cuts and high electricity tariffs that have affected commercial customers based in the Klerksdorp and surrounding areas. To perform this task, a quantitative survey was conducted by developing a question-naire based on a Likert scale, and then sending this questionnaire to different respondents from a range of business sectors. The questionnaire was divided into three sections with the intention of measuring the impact of load-shedding on the chosen companies' daily business operations, secondly to measure the influence that the current high electricity tariffs have on the businesses and lastly to measure the consequences of power cuts and high electricity tariffs on investment of the sampled business sectors. The quantitative results revealed that load-shedding, together with high electricity tariffs, had a negative effect on the different commercial customers that are based in the Klerksdorp area. A major reason for this ad-verse impact was that, when load-shedding was initially introduced in South Africa in 2008, customers were unprepared and had to start making arrangements for a ‘backup' electricity supply that ranged from the massive diesel generators required by large businesses to re-newable energy sources such as solar geysers for domestic use.