Ivory Coast, one of Africa's leaders in electricity supply, will soon endure power cuts because of a shortfall in production, the national electricity company warned Monday. The power cuts are likely to begin in the next three months, said Flore Konan, director of the Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE), which is a subsidiary of the French group Bouygues. 'We have a deficit of 150 megawatts, which could lead us to impose power cuts,' Konan told a meeting of business leaders, where she in part blamed insufficient rains that had failed to fill hydro-electric dams. The expected disruption is due to 'a failure affecting an important part of the sector of production on the Ivorian electrical network', said Eddy Simon, director general for electricity in the ministry of energy. Beyond that, the electricity industry was undergoing a 'major crisis because of a financial deficit', he added, insisting on the need for 'massive investment'. According to a source close to the case, the CIE wants the Ivorian state -- which owns the major infrastructure in the sector -- to make a very substantial financial commitment, if the power supply network is not to be seriously disrupted in the next few years. The CIE, responsible for the production, distribution and marketing of Ivorian electricity, has in 15 years become an African leader in the domain, which exports power to Ghana and Togo. In 2008, its total sales of electricity attained 4,312 gigawatts, up by two percent compared with 2007. But export sales over the same period declined by 22 percent to 599 gigawatts, according to the company management. 