POWERLESS PRODUCERS: Embattled wine industry corked by persistent rolling blackouts

In times like these, businesses need to obtain generators urgently, says Pieter Walser, owner of Blank Bottle Winery in Somerset West.

When it comes to making up for losses, raising prices is not a simple solution, he says: “I can’t just adjust my prices; it’s not that simple. You can’t raise your prices overnight.”“Without electricity, we are quite doomed,” says Peter Pentz, communications manager for Groote Post Vineyards in Darling. “We need to revert to a generator. Obviously, a generator takes diesel, and the cost of diesel is increasing immensely.

Before the harvest season, Groote Post ran its generator during office hours but switched it off at night. However, in harvest season it will run through the night, raising costs. Groote Post has spent “tens of thousands of rands per month” on diesel. “Why must we pay that money for a service that should be rendered by the government? We are still paying taxes and sin taxes despite the fact that our business is suffering.”

But DM can't blame CR coz he tolls the line

And still govt have yet to implement even as much as an energy efficient lightbulb.

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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: SA’s rolling blackouts take their toll on retail sales, food inflation and business confidenceThere was a spate of South African economic data on Wednesday, and most of it was gloomy. Consumer inflation slowed to 6.9% in January from 7.2% in December, which is a good sign. But food inflation accelerated, December retail sales were dismal and business confidence faded. Load shedding is mostly behind these trends.
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