Blackout Friday – here are some awesome Black Friday deals to help you beat load shedding
South Africa has returned to higher levels of load shedding, with power utility Eskom announcing that Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented until further notice.
Prospects for the weeks to come also look dim, according to analysts, with Eskom’s own data pointing to more outages ahead.
In short, load shedding is not going anywhere anytime soon – and if you’ve been looking for a way to help you mitigate the time spent in the dark, retailers in the country have launched several Black Friday specials for just that.
It’s an indictment on South Africa’s power situation that Black Friday deals in the country are littered with generators, inverters and battery backups.
But just like the sales day has evolved from its US roots of being a stock-clearing exercise to a month of deals for South Africans to stock up on essentials, having load shedding specials in the mix is a truly South African answer to a South African problem.
We’ve delved into some of the major retailers offering “Blackout Friday” deals, and pulled some of the standout specials.
Makro
Makro is hosting a massive Black Friday sale, which has been running since the start of the month. Amid all the appliances, pantry essentials and tech, the group also has specials on portable power stations – the latest big trend – in its own load shedding category.
RIZZEN Ultra 1200MW – R11,999 (saving of R5,000)
Gentech 3.5KVA Digital Inverter Generator – R11,999 (saving of R4,000)
BLUETTI EB3A 600W 268Wh Portable Power Station – R4,990 (saving of R3,000)
RIZZEN Ultra 700W Power Station – R5,999 (saving of R5,000)
Builders
Builders is also having specials on generators and battery packs – as well as a bunch of gas braais for if you get caught in the dark with no way to cook. Some of the biggest deals are wiping thousands of rands off of generators.
Gentech Yamaha Petrol Inverter Generator (3000W) – R18,990 (saving of R11,000)
Gentech 7.5kVA Petrol Generator – R13,990 (Saving of R9,000)
Game
Game’s Black Friday sale has a particular focus on pantry essentials and tech and appliances, but is also offering a host of load shedding solutions.
Ryobi Generator RG-7900K – R11,999 (saving of R4,000)
Magneto 1200W Portable Power Station R9,999 (saving of R7,500)
Takealot
Online retailer Takealot is hosting its Blue Dot Sale, which includes some load shedding savers, from brands like Ugreen and EcoFlow, among others.
Ugreen PowerRoam UPS 1200W – R13,999 (saving of R4,000)
EcoFlow RIVER Pro 720Wh Portable Power Station – R9,499 (saving of R6,500)
Read: Links to all the major Black Friday 2023 sales happening today