On Thursday, 8 February 2024, in his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the government was “confident that the worst is behind us and the end of load shedding is finally within reach”
Sadly, this is not the case. Loadshedding seems to be gift that keeps on giving. For many struggling with the high cost of living and overwhelming debt – this is a burden we really do not want to bear, but will somehow have to get through.
Here are some EZ Debt loadshedding survival kit tips
- Don’t get yourself all worked up, stressed and angry about loadshedding. Those in charge earn mega-bucks, have lots of savings and investments – and probably don’t bat an eyelid at our anger and frustration. As ordinary, struggling citizens, we don’t have the luxury of getting physically or mentally ill and missing work (and pay)
- Do what you must to preserve your phone’s battery life. Delete apps you don’t use. Ensure that your power banks are charged, and only used during loadshedding
- 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. These days, cooking on gas is much more cost-effective even when the power is on
- 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 in pots and dishes
- Hang your clothes carefully on the washing line to minimise creasing. There is nothing worse than staring at creased clothes you want to wear and not being able to iron them.
- 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.
- Make sure that at least one person in the house has enough data so that the others can hotspot off them.
- Children get a lot of homework and need to study – make sure to print what they need ahead of loadshedding.
- Regularly save your work on your computer. Losing work when the power goes out in the middle of a project can be a disaster.
- 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 before you turn the power to appliances back on. Loadshedding can damage appliances, which cost a small fortune to replace or even 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. Also make sure that you alert your ward councillor to unsafe conditions caused by non – working streetlights in your area. It’s an election year. You might actually get something done
- Homes are vulnerable to break-ins because alarm systems are often disrupted by loadshedding. Use a battery-powered unit. This ensures that your alarm and armed response unit are still activated during power outages
- 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. However, I have to mention that there isn’t even stability in the schedule. One minute, we are in Stage 2 – the next minute, we are right back in the Twilight Zone at Stage 6, or 8 or 429!
- Cut down on luxuries, save some money and invest in an inverter system, solar panels or a generator
- Shop around for prices for alternative energy sources. There are some options which actually see you even saving money on power while making you less dependent on Eskom
- Add more gas and data costs to your monthly household budget
Please do not think that I am suggesting that we just roll over and accept loadshedding as part of our lives, but it doesn’t hurt to put things in place that will make our lives easier while we deal with this.
