It’s been 14 years of load shedding, so it’s safe to say it isn’t going anywhere. In fact, energy experts have forecast things will get worse in 2022, citing that maintenance being done at Eskom is not effective. Eskom has also admitted it can only temporarily halt the decline.
Here are some load shedding apps for you to consider:
Arguably the most popular load shedding app that has been around for more than 6 years. You simply add your suburb, and you see in a grid format what schedules look like across all stages for several days at a time. However, it has extended beyond schedules to offer insights and a community aspect. Insights shows the status of power in SA. The community aspect called “AskMyStreet” needs your smartphone’s location turned on to see what people either “nearby” or “newest” are posting publicly. They are categorised by electricity, water, random, questions, events, good vibes etc. Be warned, it can be quite entertaining, especially when someone requests recipes for “special brownies”. The app is free so there are ads.
The Load Shedding Notifier app is also simple in design, and once you put your suburb into it, you will see upcoming schedules for at least a month, if you keep scrolling. But just be aware, Eskom chops and changes times without warning, so you don’t want to plan too far ahead. Next to each time slot is the stage but at the bottom, below the banner ad, there is an option to pay to remove ads, which costs R49.99. Settings allow you to toggle stage 5-8 schedules, only show active slots, notifications, and to show ads from local businesses, etc. You could accidentally hit an ad without realising until it’s too late.
The City of Cape Town app serves locals who can use it to refer to prepaid electricity vendors (online or instore), fault reporting, and of course load shedding schedules. The Western Cape tends of have their own schedule separate to the rest of the country, so it makes sense to use a local one such as this. You can add multiple suburbs under the status tab, view the map to find your zone, and view timetables on the third tab. It’s a good option for locals as it has no ads.
The Load Shedding app provides an overview of some of the biggest municipalities on the main dashboard. It covers Eskom, and cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane. To go into your suburb, it’s under the second Schedule tab, and you tap again to go inside – it has unnecessary long steps if you want a quick glance. It shows 7 days at a time, and lists stages 1-4 at the time of writing. It’s very basic with no option to customise, but useful more for a nationwide overview. As a free app, it also displays ads at the bottom.
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