Household insurers in South Africa will pay out burglary claims in some situations where load-shedding has made it impossible to arm home security systems.
Britz explained that Momentum Insure would generally pay out claims if there was a clear intention to arm home security devices.“For example, if it is clear that the intention was to arm the security devices, but due to load-shedding this could not be achieved, such a customer would not be negatively affected.”
“The onus is on the policyholder to ensure that the alarm is installed, compliant, always in working condition, and armed when no one’s home.” Britz said these battery backups could keep alarm systems online for at least three to four hours, provided they are serviced regularly. Britz and Van Vuuren said they had observed an increase in load-shedding-related break-in claims in recent months.