LIBREVILLE - Gabon's main electrical utility said that it will have to schedule power outages in the capital Libreville because of low water levels at its hydro-electric plants.
Equipment problems at two power plants are also contributing to what the Water and Energy Company of Gabon (SEEG) called "an energy crisis without precedent".
Instead of continuing to randomly cut off neighbourhoods of the capital, SEEG starting September 4 will announce "rotating load shedding of an average length of three hours, two to three times a day," it said in a statement read out on state television.
SEEG said the cuts were necessary "to avoid a total breakdown of the electricity network."
SEEG already warned at the end of the rainy season in June that reservoir levels at the Kinguele-Tchimbele dam, which produces half of the capital's power, were insufficient.
Meanwhile, the two thermal power plants that supply the other half of Libreville's electricity have some "unavailable" infrastructure, the communique said.
Local media have reported that SEEG owes some 15 billion CFA francs ($25-million) to Aggreko, a British company that provides services at the plants and that has threatened to stop operating.