Switching off your geyser is seen as a way of saving electricity, but it does not necessarily help consumers and could even use more power.
Brian Bilton, technical advisor for the Electrical Contractors Association, said switching off geysers as a means to save power "doesn't help us (the consumer)".
Another power-saving option that does not directly benefit the consumer is Eskom's proposed Residential Load Management which involves geysers being switched on and off by remote control.
On its website, Eskom said this did not save the customer anything, but the municipality saved by shifting the load from peak times to standard and/or off-peak times.
A geyser is regulated by a thermostat that automatically switches on when the temperature dips below a set figure.
In summer the water stays warm for longer because of external temperature.
Bilton said the opposite happens in winter and if a geyser was switched off during the day it took longer to heat up and used more power.
He said there was also wear and tear on the switches.
A better alternative was setting the temperature lower and using a geyser blanket.
He said lowering the thermostat would save more electricity than switching off the geyser.
According to Eskom, lowering the thermostat setting from 70C to 60C reduced the cost of supplying hot water by up to 5 percent.
Eskom said installing a geyser blanket could be very effective. Andre Goosen, marketing manager of geyser blanket manufacturers Pregare, said fitting a blanket could save 22 percent energy.
Recent tests indicated a saving of 1.94kWh per 24 hours, depending on the number of people in the household.
For indoor geysers, the blanket is laminated with white plastic, while a foil lamination is used for outdoor geysers.
In 2006, during the Koeberg electricity crisis, Pregare installed more than 130 000 geyser blankets in the Western Cape for Eskom. Goosen said the geyser blankets reduced electricity demand by 8MW in that province.
A geyser blanket is made of 75mm-thick thermal insulating material which Goosen said ensured the blanket reduced heat losses.
It can be bought as a do-it-yourself kit or installed by the manufacturers.
Eskom said insulated hot water pipes maintained their temperature at constant levels and prevented heat loss.
Goosen said a geyser blanket kit cost between R140 and R240.
For more information visit: www.pregare.com