The country's central and eastern districts suffered widespread blackouts after the freak storms that began on Jan 10, paralysing a region unused to harsh winter weather and woefully unprepared to clear ice and snow.

Power cables snapped and pylons collapsed under the weight, while supplies of coal which China uses to generate 70 per cent of its electricity, dwindled amid transport bottlenecks.

The loss of power brought electric trains to a standstill, stranding millions of passengers amid the key Lunar New Year travel rush.

In Guizhou province, one of China's poorest regions, 50 per cent of power had been knocked out, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said in a statement.

By Tuesday, power had been restored to 27 of the 50 cities and counties affected, the commission said.

It said stockpiles of coal at regional power plants had begun to rise again and emergency crews brought in from other parts of the country were helping speed along the process of restoring the grid.

In Hunan province, among the hardest-hit by the worst winter storms in more than 50 years, the power supply remained at just 53 per cent of pre-crisis levels, with the city of Chenzhou still without power for the second week, the commission said.

The official Xinhua News Agency gave no details about the deaths of the electricians, and it wasn't clear if they were included in the official death toll of 60 people killed in accidents and building collapses blamed on the storms. -- AP