South Africa businesses are reportedly starting to confront a future without Eskom, by putting plans in place to generate their own energy.

Anglo Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater are two of the big companies that are planning for solar plants to generate their own electricity.

Moneyweb reports that The City of Johannesburg wants to cement a deal with Harith-owned Kelvin Power Station to purchase power as a way to prevent load shedding, which has done incalculable harm to businesses in the city.

Other companies have long been advanced in their quest to reduce their dependence on Eskom power.

In 2016, Makro erected solar panels on the roof of its Makro Carnival store on the East Rand to generate 60-80% of its energy needs during the day, equivalent to 30% of the store’s annual energy needs.

Many smaller businesses have also invested hundreds of thousands of rand in generators, which serve as backup sources in the event of power outages.

Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba said in his state of the city address last month that load shedding would be a reality in the coming years and government had not come up with a plan to solve it.

Small businesses join class action against Eskom

De Beer Attorneys in April called on businesses and organisations which had suffered losses due to power cuts to join a class action suit against Eskom.

The damages claim is against Eskom directors over fraudulent, unlawful and reckless acts which had a role in the deterioration of Eskom’s generation and resulted in load shedding.

The law firm believes that its plans to launch the class action against Eskom over load shedding are viable, despite a previous statement from the power utility that there are limited grounds for such a case to be successful.