The Bermuda Electric Light Company expected to have restored power to another 1,200 homes last night but the company warned gains would be slower over the coming days.

Belco Spokeswoman Linda Smith-Wilson said 5,700 homes were expected still be suffering outages at close of play last night compared with 6,900 on Sunday night, following damage caused by Hurricane Fabian.

But she warned progress would be slower now as crews got down to the nitty-gritty.

"There is a lot of work for little return. It can take three hours to replace a transformer which could have only three homes on it."

Towards the end of the week Belco will break up crews into smaller teams to get to the smaller jobs.

She understood householders still without power when neighbours were on line got frustrated: "It can be hugely depressing."

She said accidents by other workers had added to problems including contractors who dropped a tree on power lines in Devonshire last week and a trucker who got snagged in low lying power lines in Somerset yesterday.

Areas restored yesterday were: Sommersall Road, Highland/Kitty's Drive, My Lord's Bay, Winton Hill, Warwick Drive and South Road/Mermaid Beach.

Targets last night included: Cottage Hill, Red Kiln, Wellington Slip and Back Road, Marsh Folly, Pearman Hill, Khyber Heights and Lusher Hill.

Work continuing today includes Printer's Alley, Tee Street, Point Shares, Dudley Hill, Devon Heights, Fairylands, Jones Village, Colony Valley, Tamarind Vale, Paddock Drive/Lane, Queen's Lane, Knapton Close, Cut Road, Secretary Road and Slippery Lane.

Yesterday tree trimming and pole placement took place at Abbott's Cliff Drive, Zuill's Park and Radnor Road.

Mrs. Smith-Wilson said: "Expectations are based on our projections for restoring power to a majority of customers in the specified areas.

"However, there could be customers within these areas that do not have their power restored at this time."

She stressed the list was only of major restoration work taking place, it did not include jobs being targeted by smaller restoration teams, tree-trimming crews, pole placement and pre-staging teams.