We don’t need to tell you there’s been a fair bit of load shedding recently. More than a bit, actually. EskomSePush estimates we’ve had 1,008 hours of load shedding this year, so far, with severity between a constant Stage 2 all the way to Stage 6.

If you’re a regularly functioning human then you’ve probably also tried and failed to make heads or tails of Eskom’s schedule. Or maybe you haven’t. Maybe you couldn’t be bothered to attempt to find your area in a sea of coloured blocks to see when you’re getting switched off. And why should you put yourself through that? There’s an app that does it all for you.

Well, that’s not the way Johannesburg’s City Power wants you to do things.

It’s all fake news, folks

In a tweet, the energy services company cast doubt on the accuracy of apps like EskomSePush, a service many South Africans rely on for load shedding schedules and news.

#Loadshedding Notice

CUSTOMERS URGED TO USE CITY POWER PLATFORMS FOR LOADSHEDDING COMMUNICATION ^DR pic.twitter.com/pJJqd4diMd

— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) July 6, 2022

City Power makes a fair point in saying the app isn’t updated as regularly as its website when it changes schedules “for different operational reasons”. It also points out a few wrongly labeled areas which EskomSePush took on the chin. “Thanks! Let us know if you see other issues. We don’t know when you update. We are super willing to work together. DMs are open.”

Listen: How Eskom se Push became SAs most useful app

In an interview with the Sunday Times last year, Dan Wells, EskomSePush co-founder, said keeping the app updated with the latest schedules was the majority of his work. If you’ve seen an Eskom schedule, you’d understand how human error might crop up from time to time. But you’d also know that no amount of finger-wagging from City Power will get you to switch from using the app to its website.

This could be a good opportunity for the energy company to provide its clients with better info, through the EskomSePush app. We don’t think City Power will see it the same way, though.

Source: TimesLive