Durban - A new data-free app aims to shed light on citizens’ blackout times.
“Load-shedding information from Eskom and many of the municipalities tends to give users confusing lists of zones and numbers,” said MoyaApp managing director Nicholas Bednall.
“We’ve made it as easy to understand as possible, with a layout very similar to that of an analogue diary.”
The free version gives users a two-day view of their load-shedding schedule and the platform will launch a premium model that will offer more features, such as a week view, and more locations, so users can add their work address and family members’ locations.
He said the app was six weeks old and had 315 000 registered users, with more than 95 000 active daily users.
“Achieving accurate, quality data isn’t easy – Eskom changes stages, and regions have different schedules. We also have scenarios where suburbs have different electrical grids, so the data has to be accurately matched to each home,” said Bednall.
The MoyaApp worked with data partner Loadshedding Notifier which, he said, had an accurate database and updated schedules as they changed.
Because the app is data free, it would be accessible to most people in the country and offered data-free access to a simple, user-friendly calendar indicating their area’s load-shedding times.
It is available to anyone in South Africa with an android device, and can be downloaded via https://moya.app/#download.
The Independent on Saturday