Getting prepped for more black outs

When Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang probably their most famous line “Hello darkness, my old friend”, I doubt they had Eskom in mind.

And yet here we are, with yet another week of loadshedding ahead of us as the power utility desperately tries to add more duct tape to their collapsing generators.

There’s plenty that could be said about what led us here and who we should blame, but that’s a discussion for another time.

For now, let’s turn our attention to something more practical: how to make the week-long blackout somewhat tolerable.

The first step is to make sure you plan ahead. For all it’s many, many faults, Eskom at least is somewhat reliable when it comes to sticking to timetables. Every round of loadshedding comes with a neat little schedule so that residents can quickly check when their power will be off on any given day.

This timetable is available from Eskom themselves or you could turn to apps like EskomSePush, which also sends you a notification to let you know when Eskom brings loadshedding back.

With these timetables in hand, you can at least plan your life around whichever time block your area happens to fall into. It ’ s not ideal, sure, but it ’ s better than being left in the dark (pun intended).

Once you have an idea of when the power will be out, the next step is to prepare.

If you’re like me and have developed such a symbiotic relationship with your phone that it’s merged with your arm Videodrome-style, then you’ll want to make sure you put it on to charge before Eskom flips the switch to ensure you have enough power to see you through the next two or three hours.

This obviously also applies to any other electronics you wish to keep using.

If you’re loadshedding block happens to land in the evening, then you’ll also want to stock up on portable light sources.

Candles are a quick and relativelycheap source of light, and you can usually stock quite a few of them in a small box when not needed.

They’re not perfect, of course – in addition to the fire risk, their light isn’t necessarily the strongest and they don’t last as long as other sources.

In that case, you can try keeping electronic lights handy, such as torches or camping lamps. These are more expensive than candles, especially when you include the price of batteries, but they last a lot longer and provide stronger light.

Finally, some readers may want to consider investing in a generator. This is the most expensive step but if you absolutely need access to steady electricity, it will likely be worth the additional expense.