Power cuts have worsened across Myanmar, including in major cities like Yangon and Naypyitaw, after the junta implemented a new power rotation system on Sunday prioritizing military zones over civilian areas, local sources said.
When the sun goes down in Myanmar, small villages and major urban areas are often left in total darkness. In Naypyitaw, where military generals reside and electricity was once stable, locals say the regime has moved to reduce the amount of shared power for civilians.
A local resident from Naypyitaw told Myanmar Now that the regime did not give any prior notice about the power cuts. After receiving a new power schedule, she said that residential areas in Naypitaw would receive 16 hours of electricity per day, while staff housing areas would receive 18 hours.
Power remains uninterrupted in military residential areas, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s office in Zeyar Thiri Township, the housing complex of former dictator Than Shwe and many other military residential zones.
In August 2023, junta chief Min Aung Hliang appointed two military generals to oversee the regime’s ministries of energy and electric power.
An employee familiar with the military headquarters told Myanmar Now that the junta uses a large system of solar power backups to maintain power at all times.
“Even in summer, those areas don’t have power cuts,” the employee said. “They’ve built dedicated solar power systems at military headquarters to ensure power even in the worst-case scenarios.”
According to social media posts, Naypitaw residents are buying transformers and high-powered batteries for emergency use due to the unstable power supply.
On January 6, the junta announced that Yangon Region will operate on a rotation system of four hours active electricity and eight hours off. Mandalay Region will have four groups with just three hours electricity on, and nine hours off.
As of January 2025, the junta reported power distribution at 48 percent for Yangon Region, 17 percent for Mandalay Region, and 35 percent for other areas. Currently, Yangon faces 16-hour daily outages with only eight hours of electricity, while Mandalay endures 18-hour outages.
In Yangon, residents say they experience much less power than what the regime states.
“At most we get two to three hours of electricity per day,” one Yangon resident told Myanmar Now. “It’s really bad. Even when they say power will come for four hours, it only comes for about an hour before cutting off again.”
In Mandalay Region, while power schedules vary by neighborhood, residents reported that even during the designated three-hours-on, nine-hours-off periods, electricity supply is unreliable.
A man in his 30s from Mandalay said his community often faces all day power cuts.
“If power comes between 1am and 5am, we have to wake up to cook,” the man said. “This works for my household because we have a person who can cook at that time period, but it’s not practical for working people.”
The junta claims they are generating about 4,000 megawatts of power through 30 hydroelectric plants, 26 natural gas plants, two coal power plants, and solar energy facilities. In response to the new outages, they cite flood damage at power plants, and claim the resistance is responsible for downing power lines.
“This affects everything from pumping water, to cooking rice,” the man said of Mandalay. “Nothing works properly anymore.”
