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Eskom Says It Plans to Cut 2,000 Megawatts From South Africa Grid

Eskom Says It Plans to Cut 2,000 Megawatts From South Africa Grid

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s state-owned power utility will cut 2,000 megawatts of supply from the national grid because it lost additional generating units overnight.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will start rotational blackouts, known locally as load-shedding, at 9 a.m., ending at 10 p.m., Johannesburg-based utility said on its Twitter account Friday. It had earlier said it would cut 1,000 megawatts.

The company that’s Africa’s biggest power producer is struggling with declining demand, aging plants and delays in new facilities as it takes steps to emerge from multiple scandals involving graft and mismanagement. The company, which has been identified by ratings agencies as a key threat to South Africa’s economy, is discussing its turnaround plan with the Department of Public Enterprises and President Cyril Ramaphosa.

First-half profit plunged 89 percent and the company’s debt burden is “impossibly high,” Chairman Jabu Mabuza said this week.

--With assistance from Prinesha Naidoo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ana Monteiro in Johannesburg at amonteiro4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Renee Bonorchis

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