PacB Group // Generators, Almost from Cape Town to Cairo

Articles

Generators, Almost from Cape Town to Cairo

From what one may have gathered from a variety of news reports during the past year or so, pertaining to the supply and distribution of electricity, the Mother City, Cape Town, appears to have applied their own load shedding schedules, somewhat different from those that affected the rest of the country.

A Lesser Negative Impact in Cape Town

Overall, it seems that the stages and frequency of load shedding in Cape Town and the surrounding area that is served by the same authority were and will, in general, be implemented at a lower stage, less frequently and in some instances, for shorter periods than those which typically apply to the rest of South Africa.

Consequently, one may have concluded that the negative impact and resulting inconvenience of being repeatedly powerless had a less severe effect on the Cape’s citizens, their lifestyles and the area’s economy.

Better Expectations in the Mother City

For many frustrated, but aspirational South Africans, this is just another reason why they’d like to move to Cape Town, to live, work and enjoy the wonders of the glorious Cape at the southern tip of Africa. Here, they’d expect to have a more consistent, reliable supply of electrical power and a more laid-back lifestyle with fewer or shorter power outages.

True or not, such perceptions might have led non-Capetonians to believe that the need for privately-owned generators would be considerably less in this area of astonishing natural beauty, their dreams and their aspirations.

It must be said that comparisons between the impact and severity of load shedding in a Johannesburg versus Cape Town scenario would seemingly support this theory. The average duration of each Johannesburg load shedding session is some 4 – 4,5 hours, sometimes longer.

What about Generator Sales and Usage?

In response, comparative generator sales and rental statistics may well have reflected accordingly if such a comparative study were to be conducted, with one important omission. The demand for individually-owned generators might be considerably reduced if the compliers of statistics omitted the fact that the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality buys its electricity from Eskom, but decides on its own load shedding implementation.

The municipality distributes power to consumers – municipal account holders. This authority manages its accounts and power distribution. The municipal body also sets its own load shedding schedules, which may not correspond 100% with those of Eskom, because the municipality manages to retain a degree of flexibility.

However, the Western Cape is a sizeable province with many towns, small villages, tiny hamlets, farms and homesteads, spread over large, often rural or very isolated, remote areas. Some of these areas have access or connections to Eskom’s electricity grid, some not at all.

Those who do make use of Eskom power as direct Eskom customers, are subject to the same load shedding levels and times as per Eskom’s public announcements about the implementation of load shedding.

Buy a Generator or be Without Power

Industries, farms, hospitality establishments and households that are located beyond the reach of Eskom, are compelled to acquire their own residential or industrial generators, install solar panels, connect to an independent supplier, such as a wind farm, if at all possible, or – as a final resort – do without. The last option, one which is literally powerless, is certainly not attractive or easy.

No Guarantees

No one in the entire big, wide world of power problems, solutions and electricity distribution can guarantee that their supply of power and the complex equipment, which they employ to generate a bulk supply of electricity, will never fail, break down or sustain irreparable damage.

Nothing is Fool-Proof

The same applies to the equipment belonging to private owners of smaller generator sets. Nothing mechanical, electrical or electronic is fail- and fool-proof 100% of the time, year after year, forever and a day. That’s just not feasible or realistic. Some manufacturers may issue generator buyers with a limited warranty that’s valid for a specified period of time, set of operational hours and the prevailing conditions when and where the power set is used.

When offered, warranty terms typically include the provision that recommended inspections, maintenance and services, repairs and allied preventative steps, such as monitoring the equipment, are undertaken by an accredited team of qualified and experienced technicians.

PacB Group Companies

Within our industry and among our peers, the PacB Group is well-known and respected in our key role as a manufacturer of superior, state-of-the-art industrial diesel generators and engine control panels. (Compact generators for residential and smaller applications are petrol-powered).

We’ve earned our proud reputation during the past decade, because at PacB we’ve remained true to our ethos. We’re very particular about quality, service excellence, power problem solutions, customisation (when necessary), our relationship with our clients and our goal to strive for perfection. This is also true for the on-going identification and implementation of likely improvements that might be introduced to everything we do throughout our group of companies.

• PacB Power Solutions – the manufacture of a range of industrial diesel generators, uninterrupted power supplies (UPS), renewable energy solutions (solar panel systems), reliable rental services, and buyers & sellers of pre-owned products that are in good condition.
• PacB Global – is in charge of our global trade, since we believe in remaining up to date with international power developments in our industry, pertaining to imports and exports of components for our generator-manufacturing division, the supply of UPS/batteries, and/or the supply of renewable energy products and related components.
• PacB Electech – the most recent addition to our Group, in response to an additional industry-relevant need – professional, approved installations, commissioning, service level agreements, repairs and monitoring of our range of professional power solutions and associated products.
• PacB Financial Assistance – does exactly as this group company’s name indicates This division assists our valued clients with tailor-made financial plans and/or rental contracts, which are designed to enable these esteemed folks obtain the power solutions that they require. It may be possible for clients to receive full financing for generators, UPS equipment, plus costs that cover maintenance, services and software.

Cape to Cairo

Although the PacB Group is situated in Pretoria, we’re not confined to this city or the Gauteng Province. If you are located in Cape Town, Clocolan, Carletonville or another African centre, way beyond the borders of South Africa, and in need of an industrial generator, contact PacB.

We operate across Africa, not exactly from the Cape to Cairo, but nevertheless throughout the continent that we all share, serving our clients in the mining, agricultural, commercial, industrial, private residential, and hospital/healthcare markets, plus another sector on which we all rely – cellphone towers.