As South Africans grapple with Stage 6 loadshedding, local app Eskom Se Push has reached a new record for daily users.
App co-founder Herman Maritz made the announcement on the new record on Twitter.
However, on 20 September, the record was broken again with 2.8 million unique users in one day.
Eskom Se Push was created in 2014 and helps residents navigate loadshedding by converting schedules into easily understandable slots.
It also includes both national stages of loadshedding and City of Cape Town stages, with the Western Cape municipality sometimes implementing a lower stage for its customers thanks to its access to the Steenbras Hydroelectric Power Station.
Co-founder comments on Eskom Se Push success
Eskom Se Push co-founder Herman Maritz shared some insights on the app’s new record-breaking performance and plans for the future.
“[It] feels great – we did this to help people so more people that use the app, the better,” Maritz told Tech Valkyrie.
He noted that the measurements for daily users reflects how many unique users opened the app on a single day. To date, the app has over 5 million installs.
The app’s success comes amid a range of updates and new features that make the app easier to navigate.
“We added a new ‘upcoming’ space so now we no longer need to figure out the complex schedule,” Maritz says.
“We keep on improving the timing notifications and making understanding loadshedding schedules easier.”
Maritz notes also that the new AskMyStreet feature helps neighbours get more information about other issues, such as unexpected outages.
“We’ve learned with EskomSePush that information is power. We all want to know what’s going on around us. Information gives us peace of mind, providing a sense of assurance in an increasingly chaotic world.”
Currently, the AskMyStreet tab includes a range of categories of hyper-local issues that users may be facing. These include: Electricity, Water, Roads, Fires, Pets, Internet Issues, and Safety.
As a result of these innovations, Maritz says he and co-creator Dan Wells continue to receive positive feedback from users.
“It’s great that we help so many people. We do appreciate all the positive emails and reviews.”
The pair have come a long way since first launching the app. In 2022, both Maritz and Wells started working full-time on the loadshedding app, as well as a related project.
If you haven’t downloaded the app and would like to try it out, you can download Eskom Se Push on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Tech Valkyrie 