With load shedding having become the norm on South Africa, have you ever wondered who is responsible for turning the lights on and off?
One man took to TikTok to show how the procedure of load shedding is allegedly implemented in his municipality. Going by the user name @mandisidyantyi, the power plant worker shared a clip of him at work at an undisclosed location in Rustenburg.
‘’Load shedding stage 4 operating 11 000 volts without an arc flash suit, this is asking for trouble. It has become a norm to commit unsafe acts in the work place,’’ he captioned the video.
Watch:
@mandisidyantyi Load Shedding stage 4 operating 11000 volts without an arc flash suit, this is asking for trouble. It has become a norm to commit unsafe acts in the work place. #Rustenburg ♬ original sound - mandisidyantyi
The video quickly went viral with South Africans shocked to see how load shedding is applied according to the TikTok user. It has had over 3.6 million views with 125 000 comments.
@mandisidyantyi Replying to @divena01 ♬ original sound - mandisidyantyi
But do you actually know how load shedding works? According to News24, implementing these power outages in South Africa requires the following steps:
- Eskom
- Municipalities will then split their areas into blocks, assigning each group a fixed period of power outage.
- Each block is assigned a unique code that specifies their load shedding pattern.
- Municipal officials then make their tables public, letting people know when their lights will go out.
- These databases are periodically updated to ensure that no single block is permanently assigned to a single load shedding slot.
Eskom says the public can play a part in reducing the load and decreasing the frequent blackouts. They regularly flight colour-coded power alert messages on TV.
The alerts are classified into four status levels: green, orange, red, and brown.
Green - Implies that there is little strain on the national supply.
Orange - Signifies a power outage, prompting customers to turn off non-essential equipment such as tumble dryers and dishwashers.
Red - Signifies that there is an increased pressure on the power supply, prompting users to turn off stoves, microwaves, kettles, and superfluous lights.
Brown - Signifies that there is substantial strain and that load-shedding is in effect in areas of the country - consumers are requested to turn off anything that is not absolutely necessary, including geysers.
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