{"id":262405,"date":"2018-08-01T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T07:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=262405"},"modified":"2018-08-01T17:37:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T15:37:22","slug":"load-shedding-is-back-here-are-tips-to-avoid-damage-to-your-electronics-and-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/262405\/load-shedding-is-back-here-are-tips-to-avoid-damage-to-your-electronics-and-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Load shedding is back – here are tips to avoid damage to your electronics and tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Eskom has been forced to reinstate load shedding after illegal strikes by its workers left stations damaged and power supplies strained.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s output off the national grid.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“It is vital to unplug computer power cables<\/strong> from the sockets, as well as telephone cables from the modem<\/strong> when there is an imminent power outage,” Eskom said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

According to Eskom, other areas that you should focus on during load shedding include:<\/p>\n