Loadshedding has become a part of the daily lives of South Africans all over the country. In 2022, we had 960 hours of national loadshedding* and recently reached stage 6, further increasing outages. With increased loadshedding comes a bigger chance of electrical faults that lead to power surges, overloading and shorting electrical appliances.

In the last six months alone, Discovery Insure has seen a rise of over 50% in power surge claims because of the increased loadshedding frequency and severity. In June 2022, we received an average of over 300 claims a week.

Here are a few tips to share with your clients to help them reduce the risks of electrical faults and prevent damage to their home contents. Clients should:

• Unplug appliances when the power goes out. Power surges usually occur when the power comes back on.
• Invest in a surge protector for the distribution board (which should be installed by a certified electrician) and surge protector plug adaptors.
• Buy a power strip with a built-in surge protector. Clients can protect their appliances by simply plugging them in to the power strip.