::City Power Johannesburg::

Electricity Saving Campaign

Before considering ways and means of reducing your electricity account one should first consider the cost of operating the various types of domestic appliances.

The following table details the average cost of electricity consumed by the various electrical appliances used in the home. (kWh cost is based on 44.39 average)

Safety inside your home

Your installation must meet the required safety standards. If you do not have a certificate of compliance, engage a qualified electrical contractor to inspect and test your installation and give you a certificate.

Don't overload plug points, particularly where multiple socket extensions are used. The total load on any socket (plug) should not exceed 16 amps (or 3 kW). How many plugs on one socket?

Disconnect electrical appliances from the plug point before working on the appliance.

Use electrical appliances only for the purpose for which they are intended, eg. don't hang damp clothing over heaters to dry, don't use stoves to heat rooms, etc.

Don't touch electrical appliances while in the bath, eg. hairdryers.

Ensure that all appliances have a plug on the cord. Don't stick bare wires into the socket outlet.

Don't interfere with the electrical wiring installation.

Protect your installation with an earth leakage unit.

If the earth leakage or any circuit breaker trips, don't bypass it. It has tripped because it has detected an unsafe or dangerous condition. If you cannot reset the earth leakage after it has tripped, unplug all appliances, double adaptors and extension cords (don't just switch off). Reset the earth leakage. If it still trips, switch off all circuit breakers, reset the earth leakage and switch on the circuit breakers one at a time until the faulty circuit is identified. Call an electrical contractor to rectify the fault.

Ensure that the electricity contractor issues you with a certificate of compliance (COC).

Make sure all plugs are correctly wired, ie. when looking at the top of the opened plug, the green and yellow (earth) wire goes into the top pin (large pin), the brown (live) wire into the right pin (marked "L" or with a brown colour) and the blue (neutral) wire into the left pin (marked "N" or with a blue colour).