Hi @Lady_Choo I went to Dear Diary thread, but its been closed, I'm from South Africa. That 7.5 hrs was a level six loadshedding, it goes up to level 8, though we haven't experienced that yet! Usually we get a level 1 - 2 which is 2.5 hrs.
Its not so bad @Lady_Choo its not an everyday thing, but it's mainly because of old infrastructure and not enough new being built ( the usual bad governmental choices and decisions).