…with its Stage 6 loadshedding and consequent 10 (TEN) hours without power – then you’d be absolutely right. Let’s not allow ourselves to normalise this sort of crap.
But then, if you’re in my zone, you probably don’t want to look at tomorrow, where there’s another ten hours, including the top two worst loadshedding slots.
Argh.
I saw someone the other day wondering when we would all start “posing the awkward question” (their words, not mine) as to why with so little electricity flowing on a daily basis, our bills haven’t dropped at all. Oooh! Tasty stuff, invoking all sorts of conspiracy theories.
Except…
Our bill has dropped loads. I buy the same amount of electricity every month and I usually/often (not sure which is the better word here) have to top it up by the end of the month. November’s lot is still going and we’re on the 7th December! And what’s more, we’ll make it to the 10th with what we’ve still got left (and well beyond, if we stick at Stage 6 for the next few days).
Some disclaimery:
- Yes, I’d absolutely rather have power 24/7.
- No, you don’t get completely free pass when the power goes out, because you need to heat water up and cool fridges down when it comes back on.
- Yes, November is a warmer month, so there’s no heating required (such as we have heating anyway) and the ambient water temperature is warmer, so the same amount of electricity might go further.
But still, even with those provisos in place, I’m getting at least 33% more than I usually do.
And you have to take the small wins, because the big defeats are regular, they’re heavy and they’re depressing.
Anyway, suddenly I have loads to fit in – including some depression – before the next outage at 2pm, so please excuse me.