South Africans told to prepare for a new week of rolling blackouts

Eskom has warned that it may continue rolling blackouts throughout the week as power cuts entered a fifth day.

Eskom said it’s cutting 2 000 megawatts from the grid on Monday, extending the electricity shortages, known locally as load shedding. Plant breakdowns resulted in the utility losing as much as 12 000 megawatts on Sunday. Debilitating power outages in Africa’s most industrialised economy have emerged as the biggest threat to economic growth.

“There is a high probability of load-shedding until the end of the week,” Eskom said in a statement.

Read: Eskom wants R27bn clawback from consumers

Eskom cut 4 000 megawatts from the grid on Friday, the highest degree the utility has implemented to prevent a collapse of the grid since March. The state-owned company which provides about 95% of South Africa’s electricity, is struggling with a R454 billion debt and declining revenue.

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