The worst effected areas in Scotland are the Highlands, Tayside and Argyll, although power has also been lost on parts of the Western Isles and Orkney.
The numbers of customers without power is expected to increase as the high winds make their way across Scotland before it makes its way of the coast later this afternoon.
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) has prepared for the event by putting in place “detailed resilience plans” and has mobilised 1,000 engineers and support staff to deal with the outages.
SHEPD expects to have “the majority of supplies restored throughout the course of the day”, alhtough some customers may be without power into tomorrow “depending on the nature and extent of the damage to the network”.
There are also approximately 4,500 customers who are without electricity in Northern Ireland following damage to the network caused by the gale force winds.
The main areas affected in Northern Ireland include the North West and North East and the more exposed rural locations across the country.
Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) emergency crews and engineers have been working since early morning to repair damage to the electricity network and have restored power to around 4,000 customers.