Massive power outages afflict Yangon and Mandalay

Residents of Yangon and Mandalay say long, frequent blackouts have restricted their electricity access to even less than the normally scheduled hours since November. Responding to an energy shortage, authorities and utility companies had previously implemented a policy in Myanmar’s two largest cities to cut off power for four to eight hours at a time on a rolling schedule. The cities’ residents now say that on some days they can only use electricity for only a few hours. “The power is supposed to come back at 9 am and it’s supposed to be on until 1pm. However, the power really only comes back on around 12:30pm, goes back out at 1pm and doesn’t come back on until 9pm. Even then, it goes out again at 9:30 pm,” said a student in her 20s living in Tamwe, Yangon. Residents said outages make it extremely difficult for ordinary people to go about their daily activities, and that people had been forced to go back to using gas and charcoal stoves, for which prices had risen sharply. “It’s even getting harder to get gas cylinders for cooking, so we had to resort to charcoal cookers. It’s like being back in the past,” a 27-year-old resident of Dagon Seikkan Township said. Gas cylinders used to sell for 900 to 1,000 kyat each and were readily available for purchase, but the price has now risen to around 1,500 kyat, with many shops running out of stock. A 25-year-old woman living in Thingangyun Township said that she had to prepare meals each evening for the next day because she could no longer expect to have power in the morning or late afternoon. “The gas cylinder prices are so high now that my mother was planning to use Thanakha blocks as fuel,” the woman said, referring to a paste derived from tree bark and commonly used for face-painting and sun protection. “I had to persuade her to buy some charcoal.” Yangon during a blackout (EPA/ EFE) Myanmar internet users are also posting about their extremely limited access to power in Facebook group pages for the residents of specific townships, with many of the posts complaining that the electrical power department fails to turn the power back on at the promised time, but always cuts it off on schedule. Maw Gyi, a resident of Mingaladon Township in his 40s who works in a department store, said the power cuts had caused him to lose money. “We sell popsicles from Shwepyithar in our shop. I just had to throw away about 50 of them because they all melted during a long power cut,” Maw Gyi said. The military council announced in January of 2022 that they could only supply electricity on a rolling schedule due to a shortage of energy. They then set 9am, 1pm, and 5pm as the times for each township to have power cut off for a set number of hours at a time. Even with this policy in place, massive unscheduled power outages began to occur routinely in March and April of 2023, and only worsened later in the year. According to one 35-year-old resident Chanayethazan Township, Mandalay, beginning in December residents only had access to electric power for a few hours or less per day in six townships in newly developed areas of the city. “We only get two hours of electricity per day and there are even days where they only give us power for an hour, cut it off, then put it back on only at midnight, which means we have to get up late at night to turn on the water pumps,” the Chanayethazan Township resident said. The Thapyay Kone roundabout in Naypyidaw in late 2022 (Myanmar Now) A gemstone dealer in his 30s also said he had been forced to suspend his business because he could only use electricity for three hours a day. “We can’t cut gemstones with a diesel generator either because of all the problems getting fuel, so I just had to put my business on hold. I don’t even know how to make a living anymore,” he said. By contrast, the junta’s administrative capital in Naypyitaw reportedly still has regular access to electricity, with power cuts occurring only in cases of emergency and lasting 30 minutes or less, according to a staff member at an internet service company in the capital. “Naypyidaw has the most regular hours for electricity. There’s no difficulty regarding this issue at all. However, fuel is a different story,” he said.

Massive power outages afflict Yangon and Mandalay

While electricity is normally available without interruption in Naypyitaw, many residents say they can only use electricity for a few hours per day in Myanmar’s two largest cities

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