August 23 is a special day for Eskom: for 150 days there has been no loadshedding. Not since 2019 has South Africa experienced uninterrupted power from the national electricity utility for this long.

Loadshedding is Eskom’s way of dealing with its inability to generate enough electricity to meet the country’s needs.

The planned blackout schedule has been in place for so long that a generation of young adults has no memory of when you could cook meals without planning whether you’d be able to use your oven.

Last year was the low point for Eskom, there were 335 days of loadshedding, many of them at Stage 6 – which means that supply was 6,000MW short of demand.

A recovery plan has been put in place, says Eskom board chair Mteto Nyati.

Unfortunately for people in Joburg, municipal power company City Power has stepped into the breach with its two-and-a-half hours of ‘load rotation’ a day.