South African power utility Eskom ramps up rolling blackouts

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African power utility Eskom has ramped up its level of rolling blackouts, it said on Friday, as the ailing power grid struggles to avoid a collapse into the weekend. For the second time this year, Eskom said it would need to reduce demand by 4,000 megawatts, or around 10 percent of electricity capacity, in order to keep the system functioning. It was forced to make similar sharp cuts in November, underscoring the precarious state of electricity supply in Africa