Affordable Ways to Fight Eskom’s Load Shedding

Load shedding isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it has even been said that it will continue for at least three more years.

Advice like keeping your smartphone, laptop and tablet charged and planning your day around load shedding does little to decrease the impact of not having electricity.

The good news is that there are many ways to lessen the pain that load shedding brings, without having the break the bank!

Emergency Lights – ±R200
Emergency lights have built-in batteries, and switch on automatically when the power goes off. If you are looking for a solution that uses solar energy, you can also purchase solar emergency lamps.

Power Banks – Contact for Price
Portable power banks allow you to charge your smartphone or tablet with a USB charger when the power gets cut. The prices will differ based on the capacity.

Gas Cooker – ±R500
Running an electric stove on backup power when load shedding hits is not sustainable. The best option is gas.

UPS – Contact for Price
An uninterruptable power supply makes it possible for you to run some of your electrical equipment like an ADSL router and your laptop.

Smart Energy Light – Contact for Price
A smart energy light will provide you with hours of light during load shedding; you can even adjust the brightness, making it last for up to seven hours.

Power Inverter System – Contact for Price
A power inverter system can offer enough power to run a few appliances when load shedding hits. Many of the systems are portable, which means it can be used when and where the power goes off.

Diesel or Petrol Generator – ±R4000
If you want to run many appliances for a few hours, then a generator is a great option, although you will have to put up with a lot of noise.

Eskom’s load shedding is here to stay, but there are many affordable ways to make life easier when the electricity goes off.

Off Grid Load Shedding Solutions provides backup power solutions that are both affordable and seamless to run!

The Impact of Load Shedding on Consumers

Power outages continue to be a headache for South Africans. So how can we prevent load shedding from becoming even more disruptive and costly than necessary?

As if the regular power outages are not bad enough, now we have to deal with an even darker side of load shedding – blown out appliances and criminals targeting our homes when the lights are off and defences are down.

Having to sit in a cold dark house for hours will make anyone miserable, but our misery is being made worse by insurance companies refusing to pay for electrical appliances that are damaged by power surges when the lights come back on.

Avoid load shedding all together, including the disruption and costs, with Off Grid’s Load Shedding solutions. They provide backup power solutions that are both affordable and seamless to run; when the power goes out you are not inconvenienced and can continue to run your business, watch TV, surf the internet and all without worrying about when it’s coming back on again.

However, if your insurance company is giving you troubles, there are some quick, simple actions you can take to protect your appliances, the easiest of which is to unplug all electrical devices during a power cut.

According to the insurance company Santam, not only will this prevent damage to your appliances, but it will also help to minimise the risk of a fire caused by power surges. Santam also advises to install surge protectors that will protect your appliances.

The never-ending load shedding problem is a headache for everyone, but insurance companies and the police have also been affected. Police officers in the Western Cape have complained that they are unable to do their job effectively due to persistent power outages.

We all want to continue our normal lives when load shedding hits, this is where backup load shedding solutions are needed.

What is a UPS?

Power cuts, because of the dreaded load shedding, can not only cause you to lose unsaved work and precious data. It can also damage your valuable hardware and network infrastructure. So how do you protect your computers from load shedding? Enter the UPS…

A UPS, or “Uninterruptible Power Supply,” is any device that keeps your computer powered up and operational in the event of a power interruption. Simply put, a UPS is a battery that provides power to your computer or other critical hardware when its primary power source is unavailable. When your computer’s power source is lost, the UPS provides power for a certain amount of time (usually 10 or 15 minutes) so you can save your work and properly shut down your systems.

If you operate your business on a network or have various peripherals connected to your computer, a UPS system can be used to protect multiple devices, including monitors, modems, and routers. Most Uninterruptible Power Supplies will also shield these network systems from damage that may occur from power cuts and surges.

A UPS comes in two basic types: standby or continuous. A standby UPS, as the name implies, doesn’t switch on until power is interrupted. When it detects a loss of power, it switches on immediately (within 5 milliseconds). Most commercial UPSes are of the standby variety.

A continuous UPS, on the other hand, is always on and acts as a battery that powers your computer. A continuous UPS charges itself on power from a wall plug, and in turn runs your computer or other hardware system. This acts as a buffer so that no matter what happens to your power — be it surge, or load shedding — your critical machinery receives a clean, reliable flow of juice.

Uninterruptible power supplies range in price. Some Uninterruptible Power Supplies even include software that automatically saves your open files and shuts down your computer if its power source is compromised.

So before you buy another piece of costly computer hardware, consider investing a little money in a UPS. It can save you the headache of losing valuable data, and, in the event of a power incident, it just might save you some serious money by protecting your infrastructure investment.

Off Grid provides back up power solutions that are both affordable and easy to run! Order yours today and beat the load shedding blues!

How to Survive Load Shedding in Cape Town

Someone who thinks of ways to deal with power cuts shouldn’t be needed in the 21^st century, what’s next someone who gives us tips on how to hunt and gather food? The thing is, load shedding is our current reality right now, so let’s look on the bright side.

Here is a list of things to do when you’re plunged into darkness and ways to cope when Eskom throws us back into the Stone Age (If all else fails you can always purchase backup power solutions from Off Grid!)

1. Engage in fun electricity-free activities that you’ve never had time for. Hike up Lions Head, Go caving, adventure through a forest, knit a blanket, hug a tree… there’s an endless list of lightless activities to do.

2. Take a drive up to an elevated point. Signal Hill is the best option as you can gaze out onto the patches of light and dark. Try to guess which suburb will be in darkness next, you could even turn it into a drinking game!

3. Have some fun taking long-exposure in the dark with some sparklers. You could try draw the outline of the mountains or short phrases, such as “Eskom Sucks!”

4. Catch up on Game of Thrones, Modern Family or Vikings. Just make sure your laptop is always charged before load shedding kicks in. Take it to the next level by inviting some friends over for a marathon.

5. If you’re not keen for lettuce and raw carrots of dinner, head to one of these Cape Town eateries, who have all made a plan to stay open during power cuts:

- Black Sheep Restaurant
- Beerhouse
- Castella Amare
- Charly’s Bakery
- The Bungalow
- El Burro
- Borage Bistro
- De Grendel
- Rick’s Café Americain
- Richard’s Supper Stage

6. Load shedding has one positive side; it makes our favourite pastime, braaing, very useful! So, step away from the stove and make your meals caveman-style.

These tips aren’t going to bring our lights back on when load shedding hits, but at the very least they could save our sanity!