Daily power outages in Yangon, lasting more than five hours at a time

02 March 2022
Daily power outages in Yangon, lasting more than five hours at a time
A view of buildings during a power outage at a residential area of Yangon, Myanmar, 14 January 2022. Photo: EPA

Though power outages continue in Yangon's townships, the military council is forcing residents to pay electricity bills.

Each power outage lasts for more than five hours and they have been happening twice a day since the last week of February.

"The power outages happen too much. When people stopped paying bills the military council was forced to do so. When people pay their electricity bills there are power outages that last for more than five hours at a time. All the people who need electricity for their work have to stop working. The price of gas is too high to use generators to do our work. What can people do? All the military council troops need to die. I pray for a speedy win in our revolution”, a Yangon resident told Mizzima.

Currently, Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Rangoon are using generators during the power outages, but they plan to shut down later due to rising fuel prices, a businessman said.

"When there is a power outage, we run our generators. The price of fuel is now 1,800 kyats per liter, which is not easy in the long run. Eventually, we will have to stop working. It may cause problems for our employees who depend on us. They may get into trouble, but I am also already in debt,” he added.

Also, Yangon residents are facing hard times with public transport because Yangon’s public buses rely mainly on compressed natural gas (CNG) and have to wait for hours to refill at gas stations.

"We have to wait at least 30 minutes at the bus stop for the bus to come. If the bus service that you are waiting for has a lot of buses running, there is no problem, but if it doesn't, you have to wait a long time. When the bus comes, it is crowded,” said a Yangon resident.