35 days without power: Factory spends more than R250k on diesel as City Power fails to restore transformer

Going into a second month without electricity, an international manufacturer based in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, fears retrenchments after spending more than R250,000 on diesel.

Welding Alloys South Africa (Wasa) produces welding wire for local mining and engineering companies and exports products to Turkey, Dubai, Morocco, Sweden, Madagascar and other African countries. 

The manufacturer last had power on May 9 after a transformer inside City Power’s Timber Street switching station was vandalised.

The company’s managing director Fred Luus told TimesLIVE operating without electricity came at a huge cost and has resulted in management digging deep into the company’s savings.

“In the past three to four weeks we spent R250,000 on diesel for the generator. We can run the entire plant through the generator and production has not been affected yet, but the bottom-line cost is hurting our business. 

“We have been able to continue exports but I am running with huge costs to keep customers happy. At this rate we will be running at a loss every month. If it continues for another month we might have to retrench,” he said.

Luus said about a 100 jobs were at stake.

The company’s monthly electricity bill from the City of Johannesburg metro, seen by TimesLIVE, ranges between R40,000 and R50,000. They spend R200,000 more running the generator.   

Luus offered to buy a transformer for R150,000 to be installed in the substation after City Power said it was struggling to source one for more than a month. The utility told TimesLIVE it rejected the businessman’s offer because it is against company policy.

“I found a private company in one day, but City Power says it has been struggling for more than a month, which I do not understand.

“It is a concern there is such a lack of action from City Power. I feel like people in City Power do not care.”    

The manufacturer is part of a company with head offices in Singapore and the UK. The businessman said his biggest fear was his bosses would close the doors and set up a plant elsewhere because of service delivery issues.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena could not provide a date when power would be restored to the manufacturer.   

“At the moment we are out of stock of the type and size of transformer needed to restore power for the customer. We have escalated the issue to management and engaged our suppliers to source the transformer urgently,” he said.

On Sunday, Mangena said the utility was making arrangements to have a generator as a temporary solution but by Tuesday Luus said this had not been done.

Mangena said City Power has been battling with cases of vandalism and cable theft in the Roodepoort area.   

“In the past few weeks City Power was battling to deal with high demands for  repairs due to cable theft and vandalism, multiple cable faults, and running out of stock material.   

“By last month we had used 27,000 cable joints in six months, an amount we usually used in three years in the past. We do our best to ensure we respond to customers and communicate with them when we are not able repair to at the speed they expect.”

Poor service delivery has led to many businesses closing.

In 2020, residents from Ekandustria, near Bronkhorstspruit, complained of poverty after several factory shutdowns left hundreds jobless. 

TimesLIVE

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