How to remain productive during load shedding

If you don’t have a solar system or generator installed to beat load shedding, there are a few other things you can do to make sure you can remain productive.

ASUS Business consultant Marce Bester says companies are anticipating a long road to recovery for the Eskom power grid, and are making contingency plans accordingly. Here are some things you can do to make sure life doesn’t stop when the lights go out.

1. Download the EskomSePush app so you can see when your area will have load shedding. You can get it here for Android phones and here for Apple. Keep your phones and other battery-powered devices charged ahead of time so that you are not caught short when the power cuts. Structure your work schedule around load shedding and relocate to the office (most offices have generators or backup power) for parts of the day when the power is off at home.
2. Get a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) for your wifi router so that you can remain connected to the internet throughout the day. Preferably get a lithium battery with a long life span that will not have to be replaced after six months of use. Being in internet communication during load shedding makes the darkness less oppressive and allows you to remain productive. Also, get power banks for charging your phone.
3. Get a laptop with long battery life. The ASUS ExpertBook B9, with a 13-hour battery life, is ideal for this purpose. It’s a lightweight, high-performance laptop with loads of features and enterprise-grade security to make sure your data remains confidential. You can find out more about the features here. This is a good fit for ‘hybrid’ workers commuting between the office and home, who cannot rely on continuous power.
4. Prepare for the worst, even if it doesn’t happen. Load shedding has become a daily part of life in South Africa with Stage 6 – meaning power outages for up to four and a half hours at a time – becoming normal. It’s clear that load shedding is not a temporary phenomenon and may be with us for years. At the very minimum, make sure you have a UPS supply for your wifi, a laptop with a battery that can survive power outages of six to eight hours, and some quality power banks to keep smaller gadgets charged.
5. Go solar, or invest in a generator. Getting a rooftop solar solution is becoming almost essential for those who can afford it, and the business case is easier to make as we knuckle down for Stage 6 load shedding. Solar panels, inverters (that convert directly to alternating current needed to power household devices) and battery technology have improved enormously over the last few years, meaning a payback period of seven to eight years has reduced to four to five years. Many businesses are looking at rooftop solar options as a way to reduce the costs of running a diesel or petrol-power generator.
6. Use gas for heating and cooking. Many households have already adopted gas as the primary source of heat and cooking, and this will become especially important as winter approaches. Demand for electricity increases during the winter months, but this year’s chilly season could be particularly severe for millions of families faced with the biting winter cold and no electricity for much of the day. Small gas heaters and cookers are freely available and reasonably priced.
7. Get your data into the cloud. There’s a ‘rush to the cloud’ in post-Covid times as companies allow workers to split their time between office and home – which means they need to access data regardless of where they are located. The trend is moving away from on-premise servers towards cloud-based services, including accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise software, that are not tied to a specific location.

Brought to you by ASUS Business.

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