Eskom chooses the worst font to relay serious Stage 5, Stage 6 load shedding statement

Well, it’s not a good time to be using anything other than Arial in your press releases, Eskom.

The ailing power utility on Tuesday night issued a brief clarification on Twitter to suggestions that Stage 5 and Stage 6 load shedding schedules will soon be implemented.

#Loadshedding stage 5 and 6 explained:@eNCA@ewnupdates @IOL @SABCNewsOnline @SowetanLIVE @News24 @mailandguardian @Moneyweb @TheCitizen_News @CityPowerJhb @City_Ekurhuleni @CityTshwane @CityofCT @eThekwiniM @centlecutility @MangaungCity pic.twitter.com/RQQ2NGjYnr

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 19, 2019

But while the release was certainly informative, suggesting that “contingency planning is in place” should South Africa dig an even larger hole for itself, Twitter just couldn’t get over the tacky font.

“I would have rather seen Comic Sans being used in a national briefing than this…” wrote one user.

That font is…interesting. pic.twitter.com/pEoZPHY5ze

— Aman Baboolal (@AmanBaboolal) March 19, 2019

What the hell is that font!!!

when you build PowerPoint presentations, do you include that canned audience applause sound effect for every new slide?

— Peter Castleden (@peter_castleden) March 19, 2019

I would have rather seen Comic Sans being used in a national briefing than this…

— Bumfluffski [HellzArmy] (@Bumfluffski) March 19, 2019

I literally can’t read this because the font hurts my eyes. Yoh fire everyone at Eskom. Yoh I hate you

— samir (@samirdaniels) March 19, 2019

What a way to convey serious, potentially country-crippling information, huh?

If the font hurts your eyes, we’ll clarify it a bit for you.

Eskom does have load shedding stages in place from 5 through to 8, however, these are only “contingency measure[s] to ensure the operability and integrity of the power system”.

Think of these in a similar vein to Cape Town’s water restriction levels.

“The response was certainly not to indicate that Eskom is formally planning to implement stages 5 and beyond,” the utility added.

“Eskom can confirm that it is equally concerning that stage 4 load shedding has been reached, given the impact on the country. Eskom is doing everything in its power to improve system performance,” it concluded.

We just hope it’s doing everything in its power to change its default press release font.

Eskom is currently load shedding at Stage 4 for the remainder of Wednesday, but will likely drop to Stage 2 overnight.

Feature image: screenshot, Eskom via Twitter