Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter started his role at South Africa's indebted utility on Monday.
De Ruyter is the first permanent leader of Eskom since the end of July, when Phakamani Hadebe stepped down, citing health reasons. He began work at the company's headquarters in Johannesburg, an Eskom spokeswoman said in a reply to questions.
The state-owned utility is set to be restructured to turn the loss-making business around and try to emerge from 450 billion rand ($31.4 billion) of debt.
Eskom's operations are equally troubled by an aging fleet of unreliable coal stations that haven't been properly maintained and new units that are defective. The utility implemented power cuts on Jan. 4 and 5 because it could not meet demand.
Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear plant has begun ramping up after maintenance, Eskom said. The grid remains constrained, while reserve units have been replenished.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, Rene Vollgraaff
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