Even as the city hopes for early measures that will provide relief from unscheduled power cuts, the eight to 10 hours of power cut a day now has hit several small business.
Those who have generators and invertors are also struggling to manage the long hours of unannounced power cuts. Tailoring shops, booths with photo copiers, and neighbourhood grocery outlets are among the small businesses that are suffering losses because of the power cut.
C.R. Baskaran, secretary of Coimbatore Maligai Merchants’ Association, says if there is a power cut in the late evening or night hours, many small and wholesale outlets in the Big Bazaar and nearby areas close early. The impact on business is visible in the area. The grocery merchants need power for several activities such as weighing scales, billing, and sealing. These are all affected when there is no power for two or three hours at a stretch. When small retail business is affect, the impact is felt by whole sale dealers too.
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A trader who has an ice-cream shop and a photo copier on Arts College Road says that the last two years were the worst period of business for him because of the power cut.
Since the daily sales is only Rs. 600 he is unable to buy a generator. The photo copier is power intensive. Photo copy business picks up only in the afternoon hours every day and there is no power from noon.
The shop has no power from 12 noon to 3 p.m., 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The number of customers to the ice-cream parlour has also declined because of the power cuts. Business will revive only if the power cut duration and frequency come down, he says.
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According to a grocery outlet owner in Ramanathapuram area, products such as milk and curd are stored in refrigerator at the shop. Since there is no power for three hours in the morning and for three hours in the evening, the shops have minimised the use of the refrigerator. They plan the purchase and sale of these products in such a way that they do not have to store them for a long duration.
As for tailors, their income is cut short drastically by the power situation.
“From delivering 15 trousers and shirts a day, we are able to deliver only two trousers and two shirts now,” says V. Chandramohan, whose shop is on Cross Cut Road.
“The bulk of the power cut is during our working hours. The power cut delays stitching and that has a cascading effect on creating button holes and ironing the finished garments. Ultimately, we face the ire of the customers,” he laments. Most gents garments tailors say it takes more than 25 days for a piece of cloth to turn into a complete pair of trousers or shirt.
From seven hours a day Sheela Nain’s working time has come down to a mere three. Even with three electric sewing machines, she is able to deliver only two salwar suits or three blouses a day. This is because of the power cut that exceeds eight hours.
When the load-shedding time was two hours, she was able to deliver nearly four salwar suits and three blouses. The earning per day has also reduced from approximately Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 400.
"Earlier, I could complete a salwar in two to three days, but now the minimum time I seek is two weeks. I try to use the pedal when there is no electricity. But this is time consuming as well as tiring," she says.
With most of the young tailors trained largely on electrically powered machines, using the conventional ones is left to only those few who have worked on these, tailor shop owners explain. Besides, these cannot help in completing the dresses within the delivery date.
(With inputs from Amutha Kannan and K.V. Prasad)