South Africa's state electricity utility Eskom (a government-owned power company that has long struggled with chronic supply shortfalls) announced it does not expect nationwide blackouts during the upcoming Southern Hemisphere winter, from April to August — what would be the first such outage-free period in years. The company says its generating fleet has become significantly more reliable, with the last nationwide cuts imposed roughly a year ago after a period when outages occurred almost daily. Eskom has also reported its first annual profit in eight years, crediting reduced reliance on expensive emergency diesel generators, which saved an estimated $1.64 billion compared with the previous three years — a notable turnaround for Africa's most industrialised economy, which has suffered prolonged damage to growth from the energy crisis.