South Africa was moved to Stage 6 power cuts on Monday evening, after the loss of two generating units and increased maintenance.

After a weekend of Stage 4 and Stage 5 load shedding, Eskom has announced that Stage 6 will be implemented from 5am on Tuesday, 5 September, and will continue "until further notice".

Eskom, in a statement on Monday evening, said this was because of an increase in planned maintenance and the loss of a further two generation units on Monday.

"Overnight, a further two units at Lethabo and Matla power stations will need to be shut down for urgent repairs," it said.

Eskom said breakdowns were at 16,210MW, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance was 5,894MW.

"Since yesterday, a generating unit each at Kriel and Medupi power stations was taken offline for repairs. In the same period, a generating unit at [each of] Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and Lethabo power stations [was] returned to service.

"The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints," it said.

South Africa is enduring its worst year for power cuts by the monopoly energy utility, with only one day where load shedding was fully suspended. (To track the days and stages of rolling blackouts, see <a...