In their most recent financial years, the Shoprite group and Pick n Pay together spent R2 billion on diesel to ensure that stores could trade during load shedding.
Shoprite spent R1.3 billion between July 2022 and June last year. Pick n Pay's diesel bill was R698 million, but this was between March 2023 and February this year.
Not only does Shoprite have a larger store base than Pick n Pay, but its financial year also included December 2022, and last year January, April and May - months where load shedding was acute (with multiple days of Stage 6).
The current load shedding reprieve - which is fast approaching a full five months - means the country's two largest supermarket chains will have spent very, very little on diesel over that time.
It's tempting to assume that with no need to run generators, these diesel costs will fall straight to the bottom line.
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