Eskom said shortly before 1pm on Monday that it would implement stage 4 rolling blackouts countrywide starting at 1pm until 5am on Friday.
The power utility said this was due to ongoing generation capacity shortages.
“While Eskom regrets the escalation in load-shedding, it is necessary to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves which have been utilised extensively this morning as we are not getting the reduction in demand expected from the implementation of stage 2 load-shedding.
“It was anticipated an additional seven units would have returned to service by Monday, and this has not materialised,” the embattled power utility said.
Eskom said a generating unit at Arnot power station tripped on Monday morning and further contributed to the shortages.
Total breakdowns amount to 14,874MW while planned maintenance is 5,579MW of capacity.
Stage 2 load-shedding will continue from Friday until 5am on Saturday.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.