Back in business! EskomSePush celebrates load shedding return

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For the second time this year, the founders of the EskomSePush app are likely doing an air fist pump after Eskom announced the return of load shedding – at Stage 6!

The energy supplier has confirmed that rolling blackouts will remain in place for the duration of the week.

ESKOMSEPUSH CELEBRATES LOAD SHEDDING RETURN

On Saturday, Eskom announced that it was implementing load shedding due to the breakdown of multiple units at two power stations in Mpumalanga.

The scheduled outages were initially announced to be in the Stage 3 category. However was moved to Stage 6 in a bid to “replenish emergency reserves and prepare for the week ahead”.

While many South Africans were annoyed at the inconvenience of no electricity, popular app EskomSePush jokingly celebrated it with a meme…

Last month, the unofficial go-to app for push notifications on rolling blackouts marked the return of load shedding. This, after ten months of uninterrupted power supply.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

In 2014, Herman Maritz and Dan Wells developed EskomSePush, which is a play on words of a popular South African vulgar phrase.�

Maritz is a qualified electrical engineer, while Wells has a degree in computer science. With their combined experience, they started the free app that gives real-time notifications and information about load shedding in every affected grid in South Africa.

EskomSePush founders Herman Maritz and Dan Wells. The app has been downloaded over 5 million times.
Images via Facebook: EskomSePush

The pals were amused at how many clients mispronounced the word “push” as the slang word “p*es.”

Initially called Ask My Street, developers soon named it EskomSePush.

The app – which has been downloaded over 5 million times – also has a unique community forum where users can ask questions and get answers to everyday services like electricity, water, roads, fires, internet issues, and safety.

ESKOMSEPUSH NOT GOING ANYWHERE

Speaking to MyBroadband, EskomSePush revealed that while they had notably lost ad revenue during periods of uninterrupted power supply, they were working towards developing the app beyond load shedding notifications.

Maritz stated that the company’s vision was to continue its community-driven chat feature.

He said: “Our goal remains to stay South Africa’s number one app. And this plays a big part in that mission.”

eskomsepush, eskom loadshedding app — EskomSePush’s founders want the app to be about more than just load shedding.
Image via Facebook:
@eskomsepush

“Whether it’s helping a neighbour find out what’s up with the water, sharing a heads-up about a local event, or just agreeing that ‘yoh, this sucks,’ ESP is here to help communities help themselves.”