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As many as 25,000 homes and businesses on the central Queensland coast look set to remain without power until at least Tuesday next week.
Bob Pleash, a spokesman for Ergon Energy, said 42,000 customers remained without electricity in Yeppoon, Rockhampton and surrounding areas on Tuesday morning in the wake of Cyclone Marcia.
He said 65,000 were without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm on Friday.
Residents of Yeppoon and its outlying areas, where Marcia hit as a powerful category five, are in for the longest wait.
Ergon aims to have the coastal town back on line by Tuesday and all of Rockhampton by the end of this week.
Mr Pleash said a further 7000 customers were expected to be reconnected on Tuesday.
He said Ergon workers were facing an uphill battle, with 1800 powerlines brought down by Marcia.
"There is a massive amount of work to be done," he said.
"There has been a huge amount of damage. We have had trees falling across a lot of lines and some areas are like a twisted mess.
"In outlying rural areas, some sections will have to be completely rebuilt."
Mr Pleash said in areas requiring major infrastructure reconstruction, Ergon would provide energy through generator power, until construction was complete.
Both Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg will tour Rockhampton and Yeppoon on Tuesday.
On Monday, more than 100 members of the Australian Army arrived to aid the recovery effort, as well as emergency services and State Emergency Service volunteers from Townsville, Mackay and Brisbane.
Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon condemned the stupidity of looters, who had stolen four generators being used to power traffic lights in cyclone-hit Rockhampton.
He said the priority for electricity restoration was basic services, such as hospitals, water and sewerage, before the reconnection effort would move to the suburbs.
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