The Weekly Reader

Link: http://www.dispatch.co.za/2007/01/20/Easterncape/bcutss.html

Power cuts: Now it’s the generator wars

‘Worst ever’ energy crisis hits business

By TOM MAPHAM

TOWNSFOLK raced against each other as an earnest battle for generators got underway yesterday when small Eastern Cape towns found themselves hardest hit by the country’s “worst ever” power cuts.

ED NOTE: News from South Africa, hardly a thrd world nation, as the looming energy peak begins to be felt.

Follow up:

East London generator dealer Milton Thesen watched in amazement as a doctor from Butterworth competed with a Peddie businessman to pay R35000 for his last generator.

“After all the newspaper reports the guys were going berserk,” said Thesen yesterday.

When Dr Emmanuel Duku’s driver arrived from Butterworth to make the purchase, Thesen had to refuse his R35000 cheque because Gerald Jules, a supermarket owner, had made an electronic transfer into Thesen’s account moments earlier.

Duku was not the only one affected by the blackouts. Business in Butterworth ground to a halt in a four hour outage on Thursday. In Peddie and King William’s Town there were two-hour long blackouts yesterday morning.

“All the ATMs are on the blink. You can’t find cash anywhere,” said Fred Volbrecht, an engineering consultant who was stuck in King William’s Town without money to pay his staff.

Eskom has blamed the crisis on unplanned outages at six power stations, including the Koeberg nuclear power station. Yesterday, the crisis was marginally alleviated when the Kriel power station was brought back on line and Eskom spokesperson, Fanie Zulu, said more were expected to come back on line over the weekend.

Cuts continued to sweep across the Eastern Cape yesterday.

In Mdantsane, blackouts went ahead as planned from around 8am, residents said. When the lights came back on, the blackout rolled on to the Karoo region from Graaff-Reinet to Cradock.

From midday, areas around Bhisho and Dimbaza were cut off, along with East London residential suburbs.

After that the cuts moved to Gonubie, Xala, Cofimvaba, and Lady Frere.

As the sun set, Eskom expected Butterworth to lose power, for the second time in two days, along with Beacon Bay, Whittlesea and Cathcart.

In major cities elsewhere traffic was disrupted and call-centres were affected.

The Automobile Association warned motorists to keep their fuel tanks topped up and use their vehicles sparingly, as filling stations and fuel pumps were also affected.

The SPCA urged callers with pet emergencies not to phone its cellphone numbers but rather to sms them in order to save their battery power.

Meanwhile, business leaders and politicians called on Eskom and government to account for the country’s “worst ever” energy crisis.

Freedom Front Plus energy spokesperson Willie Spies noted that last year Eskom had told its portfolio committee that planning for future electricity use was under control and that it had contingency plans.

“Merely three months later, and in the middle of summer, South Africa finds itself in one of the most-extensive power crises in history,” Spies said. He would be asking Eskom’s manager to appear before the committee again.