1-47pm
Load-shedding – it actually has a official definition…
It first became famous in South Africa back in 2008 when one Sunday, suddenly, with no warning, there was a massive Cape Town wide blackout. The power was out for several hours. For the energy supplier, Eskom, it was a catastrophe and it did not bode well for the citizens of this country. We ran around stocking up on gas. Generators sold out across the land. Candle suppliers rubbed their hands with glee! Definitely, some people benefited, but for most companies, big and small, it was a real inconvenience. It was a dark season, which, amazingly, soon ended. For the years that followed, the only thing that really happened was the price of electricity went up, and up, and up! And so we put in solar power and now save several hundred rand a month, as the sun heats up our water…
The scary thing about load-shedding is why it is done. When you hear that there is going to be load-shedding, just know one thing – this is Eskom’s ‘last resort.’ The power supply to the country is about to completely collapse. To prevent a massive outage of that magnitude, they need to take drastic action and enforce controlled power cuts across the country. Too much demand on Eskom’s power supply could lead to a complete imbalance of the system, which in turn could trip the energy supply to the entire country. THAT would take days to restore. And so they’ve devised a schedule that will enable rolling blackouts. At the Cape Town website, they try and let us know as soon as possible when load-shedding will begin and which stage it is at…
In the Fish Hoek/Noordhoek area, which is 8, we can expect electricity to be down at these hours…
As far as the news goes today, it seems load-shedding will be up until 10pm tonight, so it’s quite feasible that we will have a ‘power-filled’ day with no outages at all.
To plan for load-shedding, there are a few things to do.
1. Know the schedule. I’ve got the load-shedding website bookmarked and I check in a few times a day. I know there is also a website at which you can register and you will receive an email when there is any news regarding changes in power supply. I don’t know what it is, but if one of you have it, let me know and I’ll add it here.
2. Buy in some useful tools. We have a generator which we have not really needed for the couple of hours the electricity is off. We also have a gas stove for boiling water and cooking if necessary. Our biggest item during night-time load-shedding is simple…
Candle power. 🙂 Have a torch handy.
3. Work towards getting more solar generated power to your house. Setting it up efficiently is expensive, but in the long run, it will be worth it.
Psalm 62:11
“One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God;”
Amen!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂