We live in a country with unstable power supply, and as Eskom continues to hit South Africans with stage 6 load-shedding, you might want to consider buying a power-surge plug.

Businesses and households should consider having a power surge plug to ensure electrical appliances are not damaged.

Power surge plugs are used to prevent damage on electrical appliances and from lightning and high voltage surges when the electricity is switched back on.

In an interview with 702 on Thursday, head of engineering at Rubicon, Henri van Eetveldt, said there is a power surge that happens due to Eskom switching the power back on.

“In that moment, just for a few seconds, right when the power comes on, the voltage goes higher than it usually is and it is possible to damage certain electrical appliances in the house.”

“Some appliances are not equipped for the specific voltage that comes from the grid, when the power is surging after load-shedding, that voltage can spike up to certain numbers that’s higher than the device is designed for,” said Van Eetveldt.

The power surge plug, also called surge protection devices, protects high-tech electronics like computers or refrigerators, all the electronics that are always on in the house.

“The plug makes sure that it absorbs the voltage that comes through that plug and makes sure it’s always within its safe boundary."

If you do not want to purchase the plug, you should just be vigilant and do the basics by unplugging all the devices during load-shedding and wait a minute before plugging them when the power is back on.

Due to the ongoing strike by employees at the utility, Eskom is unable to return some generators to service.

The Citizen