South African embattled power utility Eskom has announced severe nationwide power cuts, blaming rising electricity demand as winter sets in alongside breakdowns at two power plants as the reasons behind the moves.
In a statement yesterday, the power company pointed out that the expanded electricity rationing would last from 2 pm until 10 pm from Wednesday through to Sunday.
It also disclosed that the escalated power cuts were to ‘ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted.’
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Africa Daily News, New York gathered that Eskom is at the centre of the country’s economic troubles, and had in recent weeks been implementing less drastic power cuts, known locally as load-shedding.
The producer of most of the country’s electricity, it is one of South Africa’s ailing state-owned companies, laden with debt and struggling to recover from years of alleged mismanagement.
South Africa, the continent’s leading industrialised country and a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement, generates more than 80 percent of its electricity from coal-fired plants that regularly break down, causing blackouts.
‘It is not realistic to expect us to hold the same timeframe as developed countries for the transition of our economies and disinvestment in fossil fuels,’ President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a climate change meeting of African leaders on Tuesday.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
