Why Your Lights Flicker Like They’re at a 90s Rave
(And When to Actually Worry)

Cape Town, 2025: the lights in your lounge start pulsing like you’re back at Club 206 in the old days.
Except there’s no DJ and definitely no glow sticks.

Flickering lights fall into four categories. Three are annoying. One can kill you. Here’s how to tell the difference.

Category 1 – The Eskom Shuffle

Perfectly normal. The grid is doing its usual load-shedding ballet. Lights dim for half a second when your neighbour fires up the bore pump. Grab a candle, pour a Klippies, and ride it out.

Category 2 – The Appliance Flex

Every time the fridge, air-con or pool pump starts, the lights dip. This is your wiring saying, “Bru, I’m from the 80s and I’m tired.” Back then a house had a kettle and maybe a two-bar heater. Today we’ve got induction stoves, heat pumps and teenagers charging five devices each. Same old 1.5 mm² cable trying to keep up. Not dangerous yet – just a friendly reminder that your house is middle-aged and needs an upgrade.

Category 3 – The Loose Connection Boogie

Random flickering, usually worse in windy weather or when the geyser clicks on. Somewhere there’s a connection slowly cooking itself. Could be in the roof, could be in the DB, could be the Eskom meter itself. These start small, then one day you smell that warm plastic smell and realise your roof space is now a toaster.

Category 4 – The Silent Killer Strobe

Lights going bright-dim-bright-dim in a slow, rhythmic pattern, especially when big appliances are OFF. That’s a classic neutral fault. Current is finding its way back through places it really shouldn’t – like your metal taps, window frames, or the dog’s water bowl. We’ve seen this exact pattern right before a plug melted and started a fire in Durbanville last year. If you see this one, switch off at the main and pretend you’re phoning a friend… who happens to be an electrician.

Quick Cape Town test

Stand at your DB. Switch the geyser on and off. If the lights react like they’ve had three espressos, you’ve got work to do. If they stay rock steady, go back to Netflix – you’re winning at life.

Flickering lights are like that check-engine light in your car. Sometimes it’s nothing. Sometimes it’s the engine about to grenade. The only way to know is to pop the bonnet.

So tell us – what weird electrical gremlins have you spotted in your house lately?
The comments are safer than your roof space. 😏