Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 21:00 on Monday 7 February until 05:00 on Tuesday 8 February, the power utility says.

This comes following the loss of four generating units in a day.

The losses occurred at Camden, Duvha, Matla and Kusile power stations.

Camden, Duvha and Matla are old power stations, dating back to the 1980s.

Camden however, was recommissioned in 2010 and could therefore be regarded as a "new" station.

The loss of a unit at Kusile - Eskom's newest power station is concerning. Especially since another unit at the same plant is already down and is late in being returned to service.

This is exacerbated by the non-return to service of two units at Majuba.

Meanwhile, one of Koeberg's units is out of service for life extension work, and Medupi Unit 4, which was destroyed in an explosion last year, has yet to be repaired. 

The utility says that this load shedding is needed to enable it to conserve and replenish emergency reserves and warns that further breakdowns could force it to implement load shedding sooner or to extend the load shedding beyond Tuesday morning. 

Apparently total breakdowns amount to 16 261 MW while planned maintenance is 5350 MW of capacity as it continues with the reliability maintenance.