With the Eskom situation it is safe to say that citizens can be left in the dark at any given time. Therefor home owners have been urged to test their security systems as a matter of urgency and to pay particular attention to the battery backup systems.

“Many people are under the incorrect assumption that their home alarm system is deactivated when the power supply is interrupted. However, if you have a stable and correctly programmed system coupled with a battery that is in good condition, it will continue to protect the premises during a power outage – regardless if the outage is caused by load-shedding,” says Charnel Hattingh, national marketing and communications manager at Fidelity ADT.

She adds that there are a number of practical steps that can be taken to ensure security is not compromised during any power cuts.

Some of these include ensuring that the alarm system has an adequate battery supply, that all automated gates and doors are secured and lastly to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to your security provider or the South African Police Service.

The most important tips to remember are:

• It is important that your alarm system has an adequate battery supply. Batteries should be checked regularly.
• Alarms should be checked during extended power outages to keep systems running.
• Power cuts can impact on fire systems and fire control systems; so these also need to be checked regularly.
• The more frequent use of gas and candles can increase the risk of fire and home fire extinguishers should be on hand.
• Above all remain vigilant during a power cut; be on the look-out for any suspicious activity and report this to your security company or the SAPS immediately.

“Because of load-shedding, there might also be a higher than usual number of alarm activation signals received by security companies and their monitoring centres,” says Hattingh.

“This could lead to a delay in monitoring centre agents making contact with customers. You can assist by manually cancelling any potential false alarms caused by load-shedding, and thus help call centre agents in prioritising the calls needing urgent attention.”