The largest supermarket retailers in South Africa have now spent nearly R3 billion on diesel, to enable them to run generators so they could trade through the near-constant load shedding over the past nine months.
The bulk of this expense came in the period between October 2022 and May 2023, as daily power cuts intensified with days-long bursts at Stage 6.
Woolworths previously said its additional diesel spend for generators totalled R100 million in the six months before Christmas. This was primarily in its food business, where waste increased by 0.1% (a R20 million knock).
During Stage 6 load shedding, Woolworths says it incurs costs of between R20 million and R30 million a month due to diesel and higher waste.
It says its “primary objective is to protect the quality and integrity of our superior cold chain. We have made significant past investments in our energy supply capabilities, with 99% of our stores and all our distribution centres already equipped with generator capacity.
If the chain is broken for eight consecutive minutes, the retailer considers the food spoiled and food is removed from shelves and donated to food charities.
The R3 billion estimate excludes the money spent by the major property groups on generator power for shopping malls.
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