More homes have been left without power for the ninth day since Storm Arwen hit the north and Scotland with the weather only to get worse with more wind, rain and snow forecasted for the next few days.
Northern Powergrid has previously said homes could be without power until Wednesday 8 November but now expect to complete their works, by rebuilding the overhead lines damaged by Arwen, on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the energy firm said that 260 generators have now been installed around the north east to get the power back on for those affected.
The spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: 'We are now hopeful that the work we have in front of us will be complete on Tuesday, provided that any additional damage that we find is small.'
Many are frustrated at the lack of government intervention, including James Cosslett, a local councillor for Durham County Council, who said: 'I’m a Tory, but I’ve got to be honest with you, if this happened in London, can you imagine, or in the southeast, everything would have got thrown at it,' he told The Times.
Huge amounts of rainfall and wind last night caused further power cuts, with Steven Bridgett, a county councillor for Rothbury, Northumberland, saying that more than 600 properties in the town have been left without electricity.
He said that people he spoke to in County Durham told him they felt isolated, angry and forgotten.
Mr Bridgett told Sky News: 'I firmly believe had this been the case where 20,000 properties were without power in Surrey or in London, the government would absolutely have treated it with more seriousness.
'[Last night] pretty much wiped out all of the good work that had been achieved over the last three or four days.
'We're now back up to about 600 properties that are still without power.
'We've got significant surface water flooding happening in this area as well.
'Some of the roads are starting to flood.
'We've pretty much had constant rainfall now for 12 to 14 hours.
'It started off as snow then it progressed into heavy rainfall with wind.'
Blistering winds and five days of snow are set to send temperatures plunging across Britain this week - as thousands of vulnerable people are still without power following deadly Storm Arwen.
The latest weather data is predicting five consecutive days of snow set to start today, with much of it falling over higher ground in the north of the country.
Areas set to be most affected include the North Yorkshire Moors and Lincolnshire and eastern England, while strong winds and widespread rain are also predicted for the North West.
One forecast predicts a harsh overnight windchill could plunge some areas as low as -11C (12F) into the week as conditions become much more bitter.
The barrage of winter weather was also expected in the south, with parts of West London and Hereford plunging to -2C temperature overnight on Friday.
There are huge concerns for the thousands of people in northern England and Scotland who are still living without power eight days after Storm Arwen caused massive network damage to parts of the UK.
The latest national figures from industry body Energy Networks Association (ENA) showed about 9,200 homes were without power on Friday evening.
Residents are now bracing for almost freezing temperatures, with parts of northern England and Scotland expected to see lows of 1C (34F) along with sleet and rain over the next 24 hours.
Britain is bracing for blistering weather conditions including five days of snow and an overnight windchill that could push temperatures as low as -11C - as thousands of vulnerable people are still without power following deadly Storm Arwen. Pictured: Huge waves at Blackpool North shore
Five days of snowfall and overnight windchill was expected to bite the Northeast coast and parts of Scotland. Pictured: Waves crash over tramlines at Blackpool yesterday
There are huge concerns for the thousands of people in northern England and Scotland who are still living without power eight days. Pictured: A welfare check is carried out on a resident of Weatherhill, County Durham on Friday - after the storm caused 'catastrophic damage' to the electricity network
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) released photographs of Royal Marines of 45 Command visiting remote communities and vulnerable households in the Banchory area of Aberdeenshire following the power outages
The harsh conditions even hit villages surrounding The Queen's Balmoral Castle estate, with the skeleton staff at her Highlands home being battered by 90mph winds and blizzards, The Sun reported.
Met Office meteorologist Steve Keats said: 'A couple of points to watch for will be winds, which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be an issue but if you’re trying to repair downed power lines it’s more sensitive.
'Saturday is expected to be cold.
