Eskom Plans 4th Day of Rolling Blackouts Across South Africa

(Bloomberg) -- Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said it will cut 3,000 megawatts of power from the South African grid from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Wednesday, marking the fourth consecutive day of such measures.

The state-owned power utility, which supplies more than 90 percent of the country’s electricity, is implementing the rolling blackouts due to a shortage of generating capacity, Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said via Twitter. Water and diesel emergency reserves are “still very low” and the nationwide strike that unions have planned for Wednesday may further impact operations, Eskom said in a statement late Tuesday.

Maintenance workers brought online four generating units with a total capacity of 1,675 megawatts Tuesday, and are expected to bring back an additional 600 megawatts Wednesday, the utility said in the statement.

Eskom, which is projecting an annual loss of 20 billion rand ($1.45 billion) and faces a debt burden of more than 400 billion rand, has been at the center of a corruption scandal and identified as the single biggest risk to the South African economy. President Cyril Ramaphosa has said it will be split into three units in an attempt to rescue the utility.

To read more: Why South Africa Is Struggling to Keep the Lights On: QuickTake

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