SA braces for cold turkey as Eskom falters

Eskom's latest power crisis is set to plunge some South African suburbs into 54 hours of darkness this week - and the chaos is likely to continue into the new year.

Consumers are warned to brace themselves for cold turkey on Christmas Day as the power utility expects to take some units offline for planned maintenance after industry shuts down for the year.

The embattled parastatal announced on Friday that it needed to free up 4000MW after running out of water and diesel at some facilities.

Eskom said this was due to depleted reserves and "unforeseen technical problems" at some cycle gas turbines and depleted water reserves at others.

Not since 2008, when rolling blackouts first hit South Africa - eventually costing the economy R50-billion - have consumers and businesses been as hard hit by interrupted power supply.

Neren Rau, the CEO of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the unstable electricity supply was the single biggest risk to the country's economy .

"It definitely stands head and shoulders above any risk that business face right now," he said.

The Sunday Times has established that:

The cabinet is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, when the actions of Eskom's leadership, including its board, are likely to come under the spotlight;

Municipalities are being slapped with millions of rands in damages claims from frustrated consumers over power surges brought on by faulty equipment and outages;

Several disaster management centres are on high alert to deal with the unforeseen impact of the power crisis; and

On Friday, private hospital group Netcare sought to allay fears when it announced that its facilities have the capacity to perform life-saving procedures even when the power is out.

The latest crisis comes on the back of months of drama at various power stations, including the recent silo collapse at Majuba, a diesel shortage two weeks ago and the wet coal debacle in March.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown's office said she was working with Eskom to ensure urgent action to "get us out of this crisis".

Tomorrow, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona is scheduled to provide an update on the parastatal's action plan and to release its festive season forecast.

He will be hoping that businesses and big industry shutting down over the season will bring some relief to the grid in the coming weeks.

Spokesman Andrew Etzinger said the situation was expected to improve towards Christmas.

But he warned that January would be "tight again" as relief was only expected in two to three years when new power stations Medupi and Kusile are expected to start contributing to the grid.

Current power outage schedules might be altered, Etzinger said, labelling them a precaution.

Two multibillion-rand projects to boost the national grid, Medupi and Kusile, are running late and Medupi's first of six new units is scheduled to be synchronised to the grid only by June next year.

This brings little comfort to consumers, who continue to battle the costly and damaging effects of power surges - even after the lights go back on.

The cities of Cape Town, Johannesburg and eThekweni confirmed receiving consumer claims for damaged washing machines, dishwashers, electronic gate motors, electric fences, TVs and other household appliances.

The City of Johannesburg had 782 claims between July 2013 and June 2014, totalling more than R35-million.

The city's insurers refused to pay Randburg resident Erica Kempken, who suffered R115000 in damages when appliances in her new kitchen packed up after five days without power in June.

Damaged items included light bulbs, the fridge, stove, gate motors, the pool pump, kettles and other appliances. She had hoped to claim from Johannesburg's power utility, City Power, but was told it was not liable for damage caused by, among other things, surges.

She received a letter stating: "In light of the above, we will not investigate your claim any further and have accordingly closed our file." Her own insurance covered only R20000 of the cost, Kempken said.

Roelof van der Breggen, who lives in Ferndale, Johannesburg, said he suffered R40000 in damages to various appliances in February and again, R15000 following another surge months later.

The bulk of such damage occurs when dangerously high voltages of electricity are pushed back into homes after power outages, resulting in lights exploding or distribution boards burning out.

Municipal insurance does not allow for claims if damage occurred as a result of stolen cables or vandalism at substations unless negligence is proved.

And, while Johannesburg's City Power maintains it has adequate security around substations, David Potter, a ward councillor in the city said: "They currently use locks that are pathetic and meant to keep children out, not criminal syndicates."

Meanwhile, businesses in coastal cities fear the worst as they gear up for thousands of visitors.

Durban Chamber of Commerce CEO Andrew Layman said: "Load shedding is devastating enough for all business operations - stage three makes it just that much worse and the residual damage to our economy will be far-reachingly negative."

Bigger hospitality establishments would be well prepared for the outages, but smaller urban businesses are likely to have great difficulty , Layman said.

Businesses at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront are also feeling the pinch.

"It is particularly tricky when it happens in the middle of the peak shopping and tourism season leading up to Christmas," said V&A Waterfront spokesman Emma King.

"During power outages we see many of our shops having to close their doors early, and our restaurants having to turn away customers," she said.

Susann Caminada of Clicks, said: "Load shedding has moved to a new level with multiple disruptions daily, so we are affected. We don't have generators in any of our stores."

Lisa Reynolds, the front-of-house manager at a Durbanville restaurant, said a quarter of their menu was unavailable during load shedding.

Several security companies confirmed having boosted staff numbers to deal with the increased number of alarms going off as a result of power outages.

Morne du Toit from Global Risk Solutions said security devices such as finger access control and communication systems did not always work during outages.

Steven Bronks, community development manager for ADT in Johannesburg, said there was an increase in alarm alerts, particularly during extended periods of outages.

However, he said it was hard to gauge whether crime increased during power outages, or whether it was just part of the annual festive season spike. - Additional reporting by Aphiwe Deklerk, Roxanne Henderson, Farren Collins, Suthentira Govender, Taschica Pillay and Isaac Mahlangu