I am not an engineer. I am not a politician. I am just an ordinary South African citizen who is gatvol of Eskom’s loadshedding and how it affects my life.
We can talk about government, SOEs and private corruption till we are blue in the face – it won’t help right now. The power will still go out, and we will be left in the dark.
It frustrates me when people come up with bright suggestions to help with loadshedding – but then these “solutions” cost a small fortune.
Don’t tell me to get loadshedding protector plugs for my appliances, when one plug costs nearly R800!
Many people also don’t have the money for generators, petrol, solar panels, inverters, batteries, etc.
So today, I’m just going to exclude those from my suggestion list, and keep it as real and affordable as I can.
Here’s what you can do before loadshedding hits your home:
- Be prepared
- Make sure you have candles and that the batteries and bulbs in torches and lamps are working.
- Try and always have some cash on hand, in case you need to make a purchase and the ATMs and card machines are offline.
- Invest in a gas tank and gas stove. Even when the power is on, it is much more cost-effective to cook on gas these days.
- Dish out food into smaller pots, so that they are easier and quicker to warm on the gas stove.
- Boil water beforehand and keep them in flasks.
- Fill some bottles and containers with water and freeze them. When the power goes out, these will act as ice-bricks to keep the food in your freezer from defrosting and going off. The same goes for some types of medications that need refrigeration.
- If you have a baby, sterilise their bottles before lights out.
- Invest in thermal covers like Wonderbags to keep food warm.
- If you have them, put off your automatic garage door mechanisms and security gates, so that you can manually open and close the doors. I forgot to do this once and couldn’t get out of the garage, and ended up having to use Uber, because the car was stuck in the garage. Another cost I can attribute to Eskom!
- Make sure that at least one person in the house has enough data, so that the others can hotspot off them, if need be.
- Children are writing exams and need to study – make sure to print what they need ahead of loadshedding.
- Regularly save your work on your computer. It can be a real train smash to lose work when the power goes out in the middle of a project.
- Just before loadshedding hits, switch off your plugs to appliances. Flip the switch at the wall, and then wait until the power is fully restored again before you turn the power to appliances back on. Loadshedding can damage appliances, which cost a small fortune to replace, or even just repair.
- If you have to walk home from taking public transport and it is already dark, and the streetlights are off, it can make things even more dangerous. Make plans for someone to collect you or walk you home.
- Homes are vulnerable to break-ins because alarm systems are often disrupted by loadshedding. Ensure that your alarm and armed response unit is still activated during power outages by using a battery powered unit.
- Check with your insurance to find out which of your items are covered in case of damage during loadshedding, so that there is no dispute afterwards.
- Know your loadshedding schedule, and inform your family of it so that everyone can make the required adjustments and arrangements. Contrary to promises made by
- If you are able to save some money, then do so and invest in an inverter system, solar panels or a generator.
- Add more gas and data costs to your monthly household budget.
I could end this article by saying how we must make the most of loadshedding, by gazing at the stars and having dinners by candlelight.
But I don’t want to do that. For that takes away from how terrible loadshedding really is.
Just because we have to live with it, does not mean that we ever have to be OK with it.