WesBank has signed an agreement with Turner Morris to assist local businesses in minimising the impact of electricity load shedding. The deal will see WesBank offering finance packages for businesses to purchase all stationary prime and standby generators generator in the Turner Morris business line-up.
“It is an unfortunate reality that load shedding is here to stay for the next few years, but we’ve seen that South African businesses are tenacious and want to adapt to challenging conditions in order to remain profitable,” says Gerald Burton, CEO of the WesBank corporate division. “Here at WesBank we also like to adapt to what the market demands, and have come up with a solution that reduces the immediate financial impact of buying a generator. Our Turner Morris finance packages are suited to all businesses – coffee shops to factories.”
Although businesses have been supplied with load shedding schedules for when power will be unavailable in their areas, supply remains volatile. There remains uncertainty around whether any given day’s load shedding will or won’t affect businesses, and a backup power supply is the best way to avoid unproductive downtime. The International Monetary Fund has already forecast that South Africa’s GDP will only grow by 2,1% in 2015, and energy experts have estimated that load shedding can seriously affect the economy. It is estimated that ten hours of stage one load shedding, per month, could cost up to R20 billion, while more severe stages could see that figure climb to as much as R80 -illion per month.
Of this, the risks to businesses are obvious. Aside from downtime, load shedding also presents material risks such as spoilt stock; damage to electronics and equipment; and increased exposure to crime when security systems are without power. During power interruptions battery-based backup power systems can mitigate these problems, but a two- to four-hour-long power outage is best dealt with using a generator.
The Turner Morris standby generators meet the power demands of a wide range of businesses, designed to be installed permanently on-site, with fuel tanks that will provide a stable power supply for up to eight hours. They are equipped with engines from either Perkins or Cummins and are backed up by full support throughout South Africa and the rest of Africa.
The Turner Morris site has power consumption calculator to assist business owners in determining their power needs.
WesBank offers finance for all Turner Morris business generators, with models that have outputs ranging from 12.5kVA to 2 000kVA.