How should a service business schedule around load shedding?

Check the published schedule for the areas you are working in, put power-dependent work outside those windows, and fill the windows with surveys, quotes and inspections. Message affected customers before the visit rather than rebooking on their doorstep.

Does Omni Field know the load shedding schedule?

No. Omni Field does not read load shedding schedules or reschedule jobs automatically. The dispatcher makes that call. What the platform provides is a calendar that makes rescheduling quick and email and WhatsApp updates so customers hear about a change promptly.

Will the technician app work during an outage?

The app keeps working on the phone and holds entries in a sync queue when the connection is unavailable, uploading them once signal returns. It is offline tolerant rather than fully offline, so expect a sync rather than assuming identical behaviour without a network.

Load shedding

Load shedding is the planned, rotational interruption of electricity supply used in South Africa when demand outstrips available generation. Cuts follow published stage schedules by area, so an outage is predictable rather than random. For field service it removes power, and often mobile signal, from job sites and offices for hours at a time.

How load shedding works

Load shedding rotates planned outages across areas according to a stage. A higher stage means more capacity has to be removed from the grid, so each area is cut more often and for longer. Schedules are published by area, which is what makes the outage plannable.

For a service business the practical consequence is that you can know in advance which suburbs are dark at which hours, and schedule around it rather than discovering it on arrival.

What it does to field work

It affects three things: the work itself, the connectivity your systems rely on, and your office. Electrical testing, powered tools, lifts in high-rise buildings and cold-chain equipment are all affected directly by an outage window.

Connectivity is the less obvious one. Mobile base stations run on battery backup that depletes over successive cuts, so signal in an affected area can degrade even where the site itself has a generator. That is a direct problem for any field system that assumes a live connection.

Scheduling around it

Schedule power-dependent work outside the published window for that area, and use the window for tasks that do not need supply: surveys, quotes, inspections and paperwork. That converts a dead two hours into billable time.

Tell customers before the visit if the window will affect their appointment. Moving an appointment in advance is a routine message. Arriving to a dark building and rebooking on the doorstep costs you the trip and the goodwill.

What software can and cannot do about it

Software cannot restore power, but it can stop an outage costing you the record of the work. Omni Field's technician app is an installable PWA that tolerates a dropped connection, holding notes, photos and time entries in a sync queue that uploads when signal returns. It is offline tolerant rather than fully offline.

For the customer side, job updates and rescheduling messages go out by email and WhatsApp from the job record, so a shifted appointment reaches the customer through a channel they are likely to read on a phone. Omni Field does not read load shedding schedules automatically, so the scheduling decision stays with your dispatcher.

Common questions

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