Load shedding
noun
Planned, rotating electricity cuts used to prevent the power grid from collapsing when demand exceeds available supply. South Africans generally learn the schedule after the lights go out.
Also known as rolling blackouts, scheduled power cuts
Load shedding is the planned switching-off of electricity in different areas when the power system cannot meet demand. The cuts rotate so the entire grid does not fail at once.
In South Africa the term escaped energy policy and entered ordinary life. It means charging the laptop before the next stage, checking whether dinner can be cooked at six, and discovering that the battery percentage has become a moral judgement.
The book uses it in a small scene: the power goes, the laptop runs down and darkness decides when the work stops. International readers may hear a technical phrase. South Africans hear the click of everything in the house giving up together.