{"id":79077,"date":"2015-01-23T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/79077\/how-your-smme-can-cope-with-load-shedding\/"},"modified":"2015-01-23T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T07:41:46","slug":"how-your-smme-can-cope-with-load-shedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2015\/01\/23\/how-your-smme-can-cope-with-load-shedding\/","title":{"rendered":"How your SMME can cope with load shedding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last few months, various business formations have expressed concerns regarding the overall impact of limited power supply on business sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>Significantly, the country\u2019s energy provider, Eskom, continues to emphasise that supply is likely to remain constrained due to ongoing maintenance and pending the completion of the new power station.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>According to Sanjeev Orie, chief executive officer of FNB Business Value-Adds, businesses need to explore alternative measures to minimise the impact of load shedding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhilst the majority of big businesses may have contingency plans to minimise the impact of load shedding, the same cannot be said for most SMMEs, mainly as they do not have adequate resources.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that SMMEs have no choice but to explore alternative energy sources as a sustained period without an income could jeorpadise the sustainability of their business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Orie recommended some of the following measures to minimise the impact of load-shedding:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>Familiarise yourself with the load shedding schedule:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Understanding when and how long your area will be affected will help you plan accordingly so that you are able to coordinate your energy needs.<\/p>\n<p>Load shedding schedules are available on municipal websites, as well as the national energy supplier, Eskom\u2019s website. Make it your business to have one at your disposal.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Invest in a secondary energy source:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Buying a generator could be a useful investment for your small business, especially if you are in the retail sector.<\/p>\n<p>Retailers may need to use surplus income generated during peak business periods to satisfy their energy needs for the year ahead.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Maximise retail spaces:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your business operates in a retail centre such as a shopping mall, explore sharing generator costs with other small businesses so that the financial burden is not heavy on your business.<\/p>\n<p>Work out an arrangement that will not have a major impact on each of the businesses\u2019 cash-flow.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cash-up at your earliest convenience:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Waiting until close of business before cashing up could be risky, especially if you have no back-up power.<\/p>\n<p>Keep less cash in your register and if possible, encourage clients to use bank or loyalty cards to limit the risk of handling cash.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Explore opening for longer hours after load shedding:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you do not have back-up power, consider extending operating hours to recoup some of the business lost during load shedding.<\/p>\n<p>There is obviously a lot that goes into making such a decision but it is important to explore such a plan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='56b6fd630129266bd5edbbc4ccccb19b'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Put plans in place for load shedding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":79124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[1372,3023,979,969,3024,6367,2734,4320],"class_list":["post-79077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-electricty","tag-eskom","tag-germiston","tag-germiston-city-news","tag-load-shedding","tag-load-shedding-plans","tag-melissa-hart","tag-power"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["electricty","eskom","germiston","germiston city news","Load Shedding","load shedding plans","melissa hart","power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}