Security companies in Durban are concerned about the safety, risk and damage to alarm systems at the homes of their clients due to the prolonged rolling blackouts.
Some residents with electric fences and automated gates are sometimes locked out during blackouts.
One of the biggest security companies in Durban catering for both business and residents has urged their customers to ensure they service their gate’s batteries.
Spokesperson Tyron Powell says what makes matters worse is that these blackouts have also shortened the life span of these batteries.
Powell says, “Look it is a big problem for us, batteries do have a life span and have so many circles in them, what we are finding is with load shedding is that actually the life span in them is diminishing, they are not lasting through – load shedding is a constant problem.
Overtime
Powell adds that since the start of Stage 4, they have been working overtime due to the influx calls from their clients.
He has also urged them to manually cancel false alarms caused by load shedding so they can prioritise calls that need urgent attention.
Powell says, “The best thing is that.. make sure that your alarm system is taken care of and the battery is adequate to hold your whole system through the load shedding. What we have, is people get a basic alarm system and they have a small battery, put in it and they do additions to their alarm system but they do not do additions to put in a bigger battery.”
“We are getting a lot of calls because people have not maintained their systems. We get false signals when their batteries go down – so our guys are responding to those and it floods us with calls – we get super busy at a time.”
VIDEO: Impact of electricity blackouts on the elderly:
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