Business Generators – Don’t Let Load Shedding Affect Your Business and Cause Financial Losses
Although power outages and load shedding stopped for a while, the years 2014 and 2015 will be remembered for regular load shedding. The impact of not having electricity even for only two hours a day during business hours can be enough to lead to business closures. We have seen this happen during the past two years and many larger industries had to move their business to other countries, while mines working on marginal profits closed. The situation has returned to normal, only because so many homeowners have switched to solar power and energy saving methods, in addition to the lighter load because of the large scale business closures.
The above being said, having power 24/7 is not a given in South Africa and the occasional load shedding and power outages still cause revenue losses for businesses. However, during peak periods of load shedding, business generator prices go up and, in many instances, shortages in supply are experienced. Waiting until regular load shedding to buy a backup generator that can run your entire operation will mean large capital layouts up front.
Perhaps you don’t yet know how much power output is needed or you don’t quite understand how the capacity of the generator is determined. Our consultants are here to assist and can visit your premises where they’ll do a free evaluation and provide you with a quote for a business generator that will meet your business power demands.
If, however, you don’t want to put additional strain on your budget and rather want to keep the capital for business growth, you can make use of our rental options. We do suggest that you make provision for load shedding now by obtaining a quote on a rental, and even start renting one of the reliable business generators now to ensure that outages will not affect your ability to do business.
Why It Is Important to Have a Generator On Site
With a business generator that can handle the load required on site, you can immediately switch over to generator power and thus eliminate the loss of productivity when there is load shedding. You will also be able to prevent service interruption to customers, since the internet connectivity, phone lines and checkout points will all be operational.
The generator doesn’t have to run 24/7 and as such, the strain on its components is minimal. With the options of buying or renting, you can decide how to apply your budget. Businesses are affected in different ways when there are power outages. A hairdresser, for instance, may have people with wet hair waiting for the overhead driers to become operational again. A Brazilian blow dry cannot be performed without power and as such, it is not only the business that suffers, but its clients have to wait out the power failure to ensure that the services for which they pay can be completed.
Restaurants, for instance, have freezers, fridges, lights, sound and point of sale systems that must stay operational. Power outages can cause damage to cold produce. Labs have equipment that must stay operational at all times and even small home businesses cannot ensure ongoing communication and services with power outages. With on-site generators that have the right capacity, it is possible to overcome the challenges as described above.
Many businesses have already partly switched over to solar power, but with periods of heavy rains, they often cannot sustain operations at the same level as with full power. For such instances, generator rental or purchases certainly make sense. With the backup generators on site, the businesses are able to sustain operations, while also charging the solar batteries.
Once the batteries are fully charged, the generator can be switched off. This helps to reduce fuel usage and thus costs. When the batteries get to their minimum operation level again during night time operation, the generator can once again be used to provide power and to charge the batteries. It is a workable solution for companies that experience low solar charge during prolonged periods of rain.
We offer a full range of business generator solutions to meet client requirements and you have a choice between petrol, diesel, air-cooled, 3-phase and silent generators. The rental units are well-maintained, while our units for sale are from top brands, known for reliability, fuel economy and excellent capacity.