There is an increase in power surge claims, with one insurance company recording a 65% increase in these cases.
Old Mutual Insure head of retail Soul Abraham said load-shedding is suspected to be the main contributor on the rising claims.
Independent forensic fire investigator Thys Steenkamp told Sowetan on Tuesday that this month alone, he probed 16 fires at homes and businesses across the country.
“The number of power surge claims has increased by 65% compared to last year’s figures. We can’t say all these claims are linked to load-shedding but there is a strong possibility that continued power cuts have some influence on the latest claims," said Abraham.
Steenkamp said: “The best thing homeowners can do is to switch off their distribution boards during load-shedding. The rolling blackouts destroy electric appliances and have caused great damage in many households.
"As a former fire fighter, I feel sorry for emergency crews because they are accused of slow client response time but in most instances, it's not their fault. The traffic jams and poor network coverage we experience during load-shedding has a negative impact on their response time.”
Eskom started rotational power cuts in 2008, but in recent weeks, the country is being dipped into darkness for longer hours than before. At some stage, the power utility implemented stage 6 load-shedding.
“There is a sense of despair that the situation does not seem to be improving and that there appears to be no end in sight to this crisis.
"Yet, even in the darkness of load-shedding there is and must be an end in sight to our electricity crisis,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in his recent weekly letter.
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