As we start trying to plug in various electronics that we had purchased or brought with us, we ran into some problems. Now, in Ontario, building code says something like, there must be one electrical outlet every 8 feet and minimum 1 outlet on every wall. Here the building code seems to be different. We do not have outlets on every wall, in fact in DD's room there is only one outlet total. Unfortunately, that outlet is being used for the security system, so we have nowhere to plug in a lamp or anything else in her room.
We have also discovered that the "M" type plugs that are used in PE are used in very few countries. Many of the 220V appliances that we have purchased need adaptors as they are the 2 prong "C" plug that most of Europe uses. Fortunately, everyone in PE has this problem so it's not just those of us who are expats. Just about every store has a whole section of electrical adaptors, plugs, extension cords and power bars. I'm quite certain that every outlet in our home has an adaptor and or power bar to accommodate the various plugs for the various appliances that we own. Most of them have an extension cord too.
About a week after we had arrived and gotten all of our appliances sorted out we started having a problem with the lights on our driveway. They kept tripping a breaker. When I went in search of the electrical panel this is what I found.
Now, I got the breaker panel part of the picture, but what the heck was the phone without a receiver doing there? Being the curious person that I am I looked at the "phone" a little more closely. Keypad, little window, manufacturer name. The little number in the window says 12 kWh. My brain does a quick rewind to high school physics and comes up with kilowatt hour = electricity. So, as I'm trying to figure out how the electric company comes to read the meter inside the garage, I notice that the number is counting down. My heart rate accelerates as I realize that the number is indicating how many kWh we have left. I have no idea how many kWh we would use in a day, so I have no idea if 12kWh will get us through the next 24 hours or not. As I am contemplating how long our electricity is going to last I notice that the numbers are actively counting down. Now, I start to panic realizing that there is not a snowball's chance that we're going to make it another day at the rate it's moving. I rushed to turn off the pool pump, washing machine and anything electrical in the house, then I got on the internet to try and figure out how to get electricity. I knew that it had something to do with those credit card things that we got as we arrived.
I called dh. He said he'd ask a colleague and get back to me. I tried the bosses wife, she wasn't home. So I Googled the electric company. I got a list of the places to buy electricity. Turns out it's the same kind of pre-pay as my cell phone, only I didn't know that about my cell phone yet, as I had only had it for a week. I figured that I needed to take the credit card and pay for electricity, they would swipe it to load it up and off we go. By the time I've figured all of this out the clock tells me it's 4:30. At that point I was under the impression that all stores closed at 5:00. So I load all of the kids into the rental car and dash off to the mall in a panic.
We arrive at the mall and on the way to the Pick n Pay I run into one of our neighbours. I ask her how the electricity works. She tells me that she's not sure if Pick n Pay still does it or not, but I should try and if not I should go to Sasol, that's were they get their electricity. I have no idea what or where Sasol is. In fact I'm not even sure I've understood her accent. It didn't sound like any place that I was familiar with, so I asked her where it was. She gave me directions, but I didn't understand anything except for the fact that it was somewhere between the mall and home. I had no idea what any street names were or even compass directions, I'd only been driving for a few days, so asking for directions was kind of silly in hindsight.
I thanked her, cursed myself for not understanding South African accents better and said a little prayer that Pick n Pay still sold electricity. It is now 4:45 and I breathe a sigh of relief when we reach Pick n Pay. Guess what!!! it's open until 8:00. I go to the customer service desk and they tell me no they don't sell electricity anymore I need to go to the Sasol. They give me equally useless directions and I rush the children back to the parking garage. As I drive out I am convinced that Sasol, whatever it is, probably closes at 5:00 and it's now 4:55. As I'm driving towards home, I am looking at every sign I can see and low and behold I see the Sasol. I did understand the accent and found that Sasol is a petrol station. Realizing that it's a petrol station and probably open past 5:00 I relax a bit. I park, and get the kids out of the car and go inside.
There is a line up and we wait our turn with credit card and electricity card in hand. I get to the teller and hand them both cards. I say, I just moved here and I need some electricity. They say "I'm sorry we don't take credit cards, cash only". Sigh! So I frantically search my purse and pockets for any South African money. I ask how much electricity I get per Rand. The very nice and patient young lady behind me in line tells me that it's roughly 1 kWh per Rand and she uses about R250 per month for her flat. I manage to locate R30 in cash and figure that will get me through a few days. So the teller takes my money and the card enters some information on his special electricity machine and hands me back the card and receipt. The kind, and very understanding lady tells me that there is a code on the receipt that I need to enter into the meter at home. I thank her profusely, pack the kids back in the car and head home.
By the time I get home we're down to 10.5 kWh and I've only been gone for an hour. Looks like the 34.8 kWh I got isn't going to take me too far. I stand looking at the metre for a few minutes and try to figure out if there is a special way to enter the code. Do I enter the card code first? Do I press the # key or the * key? I don't want to do it wrong so I head off to the bosses house to see if his wife is home. Turns out the boss is home. He assures me that all I need to do is enter the 20 digit code into the key pad and that's it. He tells me that with the pool, alarm system and general use, his family of 3 goes through between 35 and 45 kWh per day. He also tells me that everyone, even South Africans, forget to pay attention every once and a while. He told me how one night he was watching a rugby match and the TV died. They had forgotten to buy electricity.
The boss invites me to stay for a cup of tea and we have a lovely visit. Dh calls me back while I'm at the bosses house and I tell him it's all sorted out. Dh joins us at the bosses house when he gets home from work and listens to me retell my adventure. After I'm done he thoughtfully mentions that I could have used my Canadian debit card in the ATM at the petrol station to get more cash. He was right. I had been so caught up in the stress of making sure the lights didn't go out on us in the middle of the evening I didn't even think about using my debit card or even looking to see if there was an ATM.
After this fiasco, DS #2 volunteered to be our "electricity monitorer" (his words not mine). He had been really good at remembering until last week. We had just arrived home from school and I went to get one of the kids bikes down, which happened to be near the metre. We were down to 13kWh. So I pack the kids back into the van to go get more electricity. We have since found a spot that will take payment by credit card up to R1500, so I don't have to carry too much cash around. When we got home with our code in hand I went to punch in the numbers, but the metre was reading 14kWh. Weird, I thought the metre is counting up ?!? It took me a minute to notice that to the left of the screen was a negative sign. Before we left we had been at minus 13kWh. So, I learned that the electricity is not shut off as soon as the metre reaches zero. Hopefully, we can remember to maintain our electricity and I never have to find out at what point it does get shut off.
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