Eskom, South Africa's embattled state electricity company, is pressing for a national cut in consumption by up to 20 per cent amid mounting concern over the economic implications of the country's power crisis after 10 days of nationwide rolling power cuts.

In the next few weeks the company is expected to announce a five-year capital expansion programme of about R300bn ($42bn, €29bn, £22bn) to fund a new generation of power stations. Analysts are confident that the first of these will be on stream by 2013. But with Eskom's reserve margins hovering at 4 per cent, against the international benchmark of 15 per cent, power cuts are predicted for the next five years - jeopardising investment in sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy, analysts fear.