Load shedding is back – here are tips to avoid damage to your electronics and tech

·1 Aug 2018

Following a number of power outages due to load shedding on Tuesday evening (31 July), Eskom has warned that South Africans can expect further cuts from 05h00 on Wednesday.

Eskom has been forced to reinstate load shedding after illegal strikes by its workers left stations damaged and power supplies strained.

An internal document seen by Reuters showed that as of Tuesday, 15 units were down at nine South African power stations – taking over 6,000 megawatts or 13% of Eskom’s output off the national grid.

While many South Africans are no doubt familiar with the effects of load shedding, Eskom has also begun to issue a number of safety messages to prepare South Africans for outages.

“It is vital to unplug computer power cables from the sockets, as well as telephone cables from the modem when there is an imminent power outage,” Eskom said.

It added that this applies to all sensitive equipment and that the greatest cause of damage to equipment from a power outage is from electrical surges.

“Installing a surge protection device can help minimise some damage in unforeseen situations when the power goes off or is restored.”

According to Eskom, other areas that you should focus on during load shedding include:

Make sure you back up your computer, and that you save your work frequently.
Use a portable modem or 3G dongle to remain connected to the internet during an outage.
Make sure that your phone, tablet and laptops are fully-charged.
Make sure that your first-aid kit is stocked and is in an easily accessible area.
To ensure that your electric fencing continues to function during load shedding, your fence and electric gate should have a back-up battery.
Invest in a UPS device to act as a back-up battery for your PC.