Eskom doubled power cuts to stage four on Monday due to the loss of additional generating capacity.

The company had announced stage two load-shedding earlier, saying it that with "the incessant rains we are beginning to experience flooding at some power stations, which is impacting coal handling and operations which could further lead to capacity load losses and impact supply as the rainy weather persists".

Load-shedding was required all day on Monday to cater for further tripping at power plants and to create capacity to replenish water reserves for pumped storage schemes, Eskom said at the time.

Stage four entails cuts of up to 4,000MW and stage two of up to 2,000MW.

Eskom issued a statement on Monday morning, confirming the outlook for the rest of the day. The beleaguered state utility is blaming everything – from a host of unplanned breakdowns to the supply of "wet coal" for its struggles.

Flooding has been reported in parts of the north-east, and Eskom's power stations have been directly impacted. Coal-handling operations have been dramatically affected, meaning that the entire grid could lose power capacity later in the day. According to the utility, load shedding is here "for the rest of the week".

(Source: Eskom Press Statement)