Stage 6 is back …

State power utility increased the intensity of electricity outages to the highest in more than a month, after an increasing number of its generating units broke down overnight.

Eskom Holdings will remove 6 000 megawatts from the grid — known as Stage 6 load shedding — from 2 p.m. until 5 a.m. on Thursday, it said in a statement. Stage 4 loadshedding is currently in force and will be implemented again from 5 a.m. on Thursday, with the pattern being repeated until further notice, it said.

Read all our load shedding coverage here.

The last time stage 6 was implemented was June 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The electricity provider has ramped up the use of its emergency generation facilities since the weekend, as it tries to balance reduced capacity from its coal-fired plants with increased demand amid plunging winter temperatures.

Read: Load shedding: Cold front ushers in Stage 4

During peak demand on Monday, Eskom used 22 open-cycle and other gas turbines, compared with 10 on Sunday, according to updates on the utility’s Twitter feed. The last time the company reported using more than 20 turbines was May 22.