Eskom said in a statement that there had been a delay returning several generation units to service, while others had broken down.

Eskom has an aging power station fleet comprised mainly of coal plants that are highly prone to faults.

Government efforts to add additional capacity have been slow, and this year a record among of electricity is set to be cut from the grid.

The struggling state-owned company suspended scheduled electricity outages 11 days ago, following several weeks of regular power cuts that prompted public anger and hampered businesses.

The power situation in South Africa has caused some to call for the delay in taking coal-fired power plants out of service.