The CEO of Nocci, Sharon Steyn, asked "what will we be paying 32% more for? To sit in the dark?” She says no matter how big, or small a company is – no company can afford to pay that much and still keep its business afloat. 

She says they will soon be approaching the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) to oppose the matter because at the moment businesses in the country are going through a rough patch because of the situation the country's economy is in. “Now with all the pressure businesses are experiencing, Eskom wants to ask for such a high amount, which we cannot accept as businesses,” adds Steyn.

She explains that she thinks if the power utility starts to cut down the amount of money that is paid to their executives - and cut down the bonuses here and there – they could actually find out that they have solved half of their financial issues. “It does not make sense to me that they say they are facing financial difficulties but they pay their staff that much,” says Steyn. She also believes what would work is if they retrenched some of their staff or cut down salaries and bonuses.

Steyn further explains that, should this increase be given a green light, it will affect businesses very negatively, especially those in her area. “I understand they are having financial challenges but why are they not fixing them? As we speak, some businesses have to close down during load-shedding. Does it make sense that they have to close for 4 hours because there is no electricity? 

"Now, should the increase be implemented, some businesses will have to close down because they cannot afford to keep the power on at their premises – some businesses will be forced to retrench people, which means a higher unemployment rate."

She says that it is easy for people to say businesses must get an inverter or generator to keep businesses going during load-shedding, but no one actually realises how much it costs to buy those and to keep them running with the high fuel prices. “The diesel money to keep the generators going is a lot, then businesses still have rates to pay. It is becoming nearly impossible to keep businesses going.”

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