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02/03/2006 01:52 PM - (SA) Power cuts bite yet again 03-03-2006
Usually busy industrial areas fell silent for a second week in a row. For larger enterprises, the losses caused by the power cuts will be absorbed, but for many small businesses, the future is extremely uncertain. For those in the business of selling candles, gas and generators, it's a boomtime. Some entrepreneurs took advantage of the situation and one was spotted on Tuesday, parked alongside the craft traders on Broadway Boulevard, selling generators from the back of his VW Golf. Sales of generators at Turner Morris in Strand hit "like a tsunami" when the first blackouts occurred, says sales representative Terrence Scrooby. A delivery of 20 units on Monday was sold by 09:00 the next morning. A second delivery on Tuesday of 35 generators was 80% sold before lunchtime. The biggest buyers, says Scrooby, want generators for residential use - for the running of TV's, lights, fridges - and for small businesses, for the running of computers, tills and fridges in restaurants. Also seeing a swell in trade is Philip de Beer of Danru Armature Winders. Part of his business is repair work to generators and he's had people bringing in units that have been standing unused for years, but which the owners now want repaired. "In some cases repairs cost more than a new generator, but new ones are almost impossible to get," he says. A local convenience store owner, who declined to be named, said he acquired a generator last week - but was forced to pay a backhander in order to get one.
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