Connected
By: john
tags: africa, capetown, electricity, power, southafrica, townships, wiring
Category: Uncategorized
Comments Off
The wiring in the townships of Cape Town is as informal as the housing. But while it looks like everyone’s connected, that can be deceiving. Electricity runs on a debit system. If you want electricity, you go down to the local fish market and buy some. It comes in the form of a code on a little card. You take that home and type the code into your electric meter, and you have however many kilowatt hours as you purchased. The meter counts down as you consume the electricity, and when you run out, it turns off. The whole system makes everyone aware of exactly how much energy they’re using.
