Electrical industry of burma/myanmar

IMNA, 11/05/07 http://www.monnews-imna.com/2007/mayupdate.php?ID=612
Thirteen villages in Mudon township will get electricity through an arrangement being worked out by an electricity committee and three companies, according to a source close to a member of a Village Peace and Development Council in the township .

“The electricity committee in the village and the companies said they cannot tell villagers whether they would get power supply this year or next. But the villages will get it for sure,” said an applicant for electricity connection. They are not clear about the companies involved and are afraid to ask about them.

The villagers have to pay half the cost to be enrolled by May 15th. The payment to apply for the power connection is about K 600,000 per house. “The amount to be paid is for a household applying for a new connection. Villagers who had already applied in the past ten years need to pay about K 500,000 per household,” added the applicant.

The committee called a meeting of villagers on May 2nd and asked them to submit applications. However, they did not mention when the villagers would have to pay the second instalment.

The 13 villages including Wet-tae, Nyaung-gone, Kyaik-ywe, Taw-guu, Thagun-taing, Kawga-law have approximately 300 houses per village, according to a Nyaung-gone villager. About 300 electric boxes have already been booked for Nyaung-gone village.
Villagers are apprehensive that the power supply will be limited even after the meters are installed because even Mudon town residents only get a little electricity. A Mudon resident said that they get power supply for about an hour a week and it costs as much as K 500 a month.
Additional references
See above: 'Premium rates for electricity in Mon villages' (IMNA: 03/08/07)

See below: 'Padaung factories begin production of generators and meters’ (NLM: 17/10/06)

NLM, 28/12/11. Edited and condensed. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/NLM2011-12-28.pdf

Yangon City Electricity Supply Board (YESB) will carry out electric meter readings for the month of December in Yangon Region townships between the 1^st and the 6^th of January 2012. Starting 1 January 2012, electricity prices will be increased to K 35 per unit from K 25; and K 75 per unit from K 50 and to US$ 0.12 from US$ 0.08 respectively. Readings will be conducted by township staff together with over 200 from YESB. Departmental officials will supervise the process and the respective General Administration Depts of the townships will also provide any necessary assistance required. The general public is requested to cooperate with the staff to enable the operation to be carried out smoothly.

NLM, 01/09/11. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-09-01.pdf

At the regular session of the Amyotha Hluttaw in Nay Pyi Taw on 31/08/11, U Tin Maung Win from Mingaladon constituency asked whether or not there is a plan to authorize the use of pre-paid cards for payment of housing electricity meter charges as well as the meters installed by EPM-2. EPM-2 Khin Maung Soe replied that up to July 2011, YESB had installed 850,784 electricity meters in homes and that the Electricity Supply Enterprise had installed 1,412,630 electricity meters outside of Yangon. In order to to put into effect the pre-paid card system, it could cost approximately US$ 100-150 per meter depending on the brand used. The charges for urban meters for industrial-use transformers would be more expensive. A rough figure for the whole nation based on a per meter charge of K 100,000, would be approximately K 2263.414 billion. In addition there would be the cost of other accessories and infrastructures. In neighbouring countries installed electric meters at residences similar to that of Myanmar, customers can pay meter bills at designated places instead of offices through the online system. At present, the use of of the pre-paid card system is being tested on pilot project basis in these countries. In some countries up to 10pc of the customers pay using the pre-paid card system. EPM-2 is considering the introduction of the online system, but there is no plan at present to put it into effect in the near term.

Khonumthung News, 12/12/08.

http://www.khonumthung.com/kng-news/2008-news-archive/dec08/authorities-collect-meter-box-control-bill/

The Electricity Dept in Kalemyo continues to collect a meter box service charge even though it has not provided electricity on a regular basis for the past three months. The department collects K500 monthly from each household with a meter box. The power lines of those who do not pay the monthly charge are disconnected. There are about 10,000 meter box users in Kalemyo. Departmental staff said that a shortage of water at the local hydropower station and defects in the machinery at the station were responsible. . But military camps in the area continue to receive power on a 24-hour basis through a VIP transmission line. In the absence of regular service meter box users have turned to private electricity providers. The main source of power is the Yeechaung hydropower plant two miles from Kalemyo.

Khonumthung News,13/09/08.

http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4939&Itemid=99999999

The cost of electric meter boxes has been increased six fold by the electricity department recently in Falam township. Last year, the price of installation was K100,000 but now the authorities are charging K700,000, according to a local from Falam town. "People who are in need of meter boxes are finding it extremely difficult to buy now because of the price hike. We don't understand why they suddenly raised the price." Despite the increase in prices, people are buying the meter boxes at the prevailing prices as there is no other way to get power supply except through the electricity department in Falam. 'Var' hydro-power house set up in 1975 supplies power to only nine villages in Falam township including Lungrang, Laizo, Congthe, Taisun, Congheng, Zamual, Var, Parte and Lumbang. for three hours daily from 6 pm to 9 pm.

Narinjara, 15/07/08. http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4490&Itemid=1

In Maungdaw Township, residents have to apply to the township authorities to get an electric meter box and pay an official charge of K 150,000 if they need electricity supply from the government. However, after the authorities grant permission for a meter box, residents have to again pay K 16,000 to the EPC for installing the meter box in their house. Residents have to pay another K 5-10,000 to the individual EPC employee for a cover box for the meter. The cover box is made of wood and is hung on the wall of the home by the EPC employee when they set up the meter. After the meter box is finally installed, the EPC collects K 500 every month as a maintenance fee for the meter. The woman from Maungdaw said that she spent K 200,000 just to be able to get electricity, but the power is only available at her home from 7pm to 9 pm four days a week.

KNG, 21/02/08. http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3593&Itemid=6

Residents in Lekone quarter of Myitkyina are being charged K 120,000 (US $ 99) per household to set up a pylon on the main road to connect their quarter with the city’s power supply. Most cannot afford to pay that kind of money. But those who apply for an electric meter box for their house can get it within six months. To apply for a meter box, they need recommendation letters from the authorities in the quarter. This is to prove that the house still does not have a meter box. The box has to be paid for by residents. Even if residents do get a meter box, the authorities need to set up the pylon and string the wires needed. The expensive part of getting electricity is paying for the infrastructure, according to a local resident. In Myitkyina, the KIO's Buga company provides most of the electricity to the town but most of it goes to the Burmese military army camp and its buildings.

Myanmar Times, 02/07/07. http://mmtimes.com/no373/n007.htm

Another reason for the shortage of electricity supplies in 2007 has been an increase in the number of commercial electricity meters from 589,599 in 2006 to 692,044 this year, according to figures from the YESB. The addition of more than 100,000 commercial meters comes in anticipation of increased electricity supplies following the completion of several major hydropower projects in the near future. Meanwhile, the same official said the board started installing household power meters earlier this month in Yangon households that also run cottage industries. The price of the meters is K 400,000 for 10 kWh, K 600,000 for 20 kWh and K 800,000 for 30 kWh.

DVB, 25/06/07. http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=194

Residents of Pwint Phyu in Magwe division told DVB that the local branch of the national electric power company [MEPE] recently removed existing foreign-made meter boxes from local houses and replaced them with Burmese products that recorded much higher levels of electricity usage than normal. “This is happening all around town. They are removing our old meter boxes . . . In their receipts they said it cost 1000 kyat but they asked us for 7000 kyat, saying the extra would go to a Naypyidaw fund,” one resident said on condition of anonymity. Another local said that the new meter boxes were recording between three and four times the amount of electricity usage as the older boxes. “Our old meter box was installed in about 1957 when electricity was first available here. It worked fine . . . I told them not to replace it because I couldn’t afford a new one but they were like bandits,” he said.

Shan Herald, 20/06/07

http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1882&Itemid=6

Based on a promise to people in Mongton that they would be provided with electricity, authorities have been selling meter boxes to locals. The going price is K 1,500,000, said a local who arrived at the Thai-Burma border on June 15. About 400 meter boxes have been sold to people in Mongton town. All families living near a main road have to buy a meter box. Over 200 boxes were sold in Nakaungmuu. Electricity supply has been promised for August, though there are no transmission lines and lamp-posts on the road yet. A 75 MW-dynamo (sic) brought from China arrived in Mongton on May 25, the local added. "About 50 soldiers have been ordered by the Mongton-based strategic operations commander to work daily at hydropower sites. The soldiers are from IB No 65 and LIBs nos 553, 554, 227, 293, 225, and 519," a local close to the army said. Two small hydropower projects are under construction. One is in Phaline-Namm Narnue, five miles north-west of Mueng Ton and the other, the Namm Kaung Narlue hydropower project is 10 mi from Mueng Ton–Mae Kin Road and 22 mi south of Mueng Ton.

Myanmar Times, 24/07/06. [Issue 326 of the MT is not available on-line.]

YESB is installing electricity meters in houses which currently have no connection, as part of a project launched in August last year to install 100,000 meter boxes across Yangon division. “So far, we have installed more than 90,000 new electric meters and plan to install more if they are needed,” said U Tun Aye, chief engineer of YESB. “We’ve finished 95pc of the downtown area and now need to install them in the outskirt townships of Yangon.”

NLM, 17/09/03. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/03nlm/n030917.htm

At the power station in Tachilek, Gen Aung Htwe of MoD was briefed on the power production capacity of the station and progress in the installation of the unit system. He gave instructions to provide power to the villages round the clock and to extend installation of meter boxes. The station is situated on a 24-acre site on Polo [Ponglo] Street in Haungleik village-tract in Tachilek. A project for ensuring all-day power supply to the town was launched on 17 April 2003. Up to 9 September, 528 meter boxes have been installed. Arrangements are being made to generate electricity using the current of Mehok Creek 20 km from Tachilek.

Shan Herald, 30/04/03. http://www.shanland.org/general/2003/few_buy_new_electricity_meters.htm

Since an official announcement was made in Tachilek on 1 April that meter boxes from Thailand would be replaced by those from a company contracted to supply electricity to the border city, not more than 30 have been purchased by townspeople, according to several local sources. The announcement by the township council stated that U Tar Wai, an ethnic Chinese partner of the Hongpang Co, had been engaged to provide electricity to the city. According to the notice, U Tar Wai has obtained 3,000 meter boxes that will have to be purchased at Bt35,000 each to connect to the service. U Tar Wai will be using three diesel-run generators during the day time and another three at night. The charge for the service is to be eight baht per kWh. Sources say most residents are reluctant to procure the new meter boxes because the service charge is much higher than the five-baht rate previously charged by Thailand and because the boxes will have to replaced after only two years. Many have also bought their own generators since Burma cut off service from Thailand during a border confrontation between the two countries in 2002.

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MYANMAR CASHES UP ON ENERGY, BUT LOCALS IN THE DARK

Hla Hla Htay, AFP, 15/04/07. www.burmanet.org/news/2007/04/16/

Military-ruled Myanmar has recently signed off on a raft of energy deals with its power-hungry neighbours, winning the junta a desperately needed income stream. But Chinese and Thai dams to be built on Myanmar's rivers to power their own economies and Asian companies drilling for natural gas off the coast to boost fuel exports are cold comfort for impoverished locals. Most have been left in the dark as blackouts stretch through most of the day, even as reclusive officials in Naypyitaw, the new administrative capital in central Myanmar, enjoy an abundance of energy. The sprawling capital, once a mountainous backwater and home to government and military offices since last year, boasts 24-hour electricity, amply lit streets with few cars and fairy lights that twinkle around ministry buildings.
That contrasts starkly with Yangon, the nation’s biggest city, where people and businesses do without electricity for most of the day. They are hurting. "Now we average about four hours per day with power in our industrial zone, about a 50pc decline from eight hours per day in March," a businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "Many factory owners have mostly to rely on their own generators. The price of diesel is also going up now. But we have no choice," he added. "We were informed that the electricity distribution department has some technical problems. But we don't know when it will be in normal condition."
As of September last year, Myanmar had an installed capacity of 1,775 MW. Just one of the dams Thailand is building on the Salween river has a capacity to produce three times that amount.
Myanmar's official energy statistics provide some insight though many questions are left unanswered by bureaucrats responsible for administering one of the world's most isolated states. According to MEPE, 40pc of the electricity generated in 2005 was never sold to consumers or businesses. While some electricity is normally lost during transmission and distribution, the enormous shortfall has never been explained and electricity officials could not be reached for comment.
In Yangon, the nation's former capital and commercial hub, the power shortage is hammering a moribund economy and for many, the lack of power also means a lack of water as most pumps are electric. "We normally get power about six hours per day, but we can't do anything since it usually comes on at night," said Htwe Htwe, a 50-year-old Yangon housewife, who complained that the outages prevent her from cooking or cleaning. "My family has to eat leftover rice and curry. Our first priority is to get water when the power returns, " she said. "For the last two weeks, we only get three hours a day."
Residents are especially chafed over the outages because the government hiked electricity charges 10-fold last year, earning authorities an extra eight million dollars in the first half of the 2006 fiscal year.
For those who can afford it, generators have become a necessity. But soaring demand for fuel has sent prices surging and created further shortages in an already unstable market, petrol dealers said. This has forced frustrated consumers onto the black market where prices are up about seven percent for petrol and diesel -- when it is available at all. Otherwise, people go without. "Many residents come to buy for their generators. But sometimes we have no petrol to sell," one black market dealer said.
Additional references
See other entries under the category ‘Consumer Concerns and Power Shortages’ PS
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MYANMAR LEARNS TO LIVE WITH THE LIGHTS OUT

Aung Hla Tun, Reuters, 09/04/07. http://www.burmanet.org/news/2007/04/09/

Chronic power shortages in Myanmar are leaving cities shrouded in almost permanent blackout, driving its citizens to despair and crippling an economy reeling from decades of military misrule. "We've had only nine hours of electricity in the last three days," lamented Yi Yi Soe, a resident of the leafy colonial-era capital, Yangon. "Some of our neighbours have completely run out of water."
As with other problems in the once-prosperous ex-British colony, there is little explanation in the state-controlled media, which abound with pictures of generals inaugurating new hydropower projects and promising sufficient power "next year". Few people believe them. Instead, with a stoicism born of 45 years under military rule, they have learnt to live with the privations. "We haven't been able to use the washing machine for ages as the power never lasts long enough. It now serves as a laundry basket," said Yangon housewife Hla Myint, adding that all her other electrical goods were virtually worthless. "We recently decided to retire the rice cooker and we use the fridge as a cupboard. We've unplugged the cable and keep the crockery and glassware inside."
According to official data, in 2006 Myanmar could generate 1,775 megawatts of electricity for a population of 53 million. By contrast, neighbouring Thailand produces 26,000 MW for its 65 million people -- more than 12 times the power per capita. Small businesses such as photo-processing shops or Internet cafes need portable generators to get by and have to hike prices to reflect the high cost of diesel, nearly all of which is imported. "I now charge two different prices for photocopying: 20 kyat per page with government-supplied power and 50 kyat with my own generator," photocopy shopowner Kyi Aung said.
But the use of generators comes with hidden costs for the wider population, mainly in the form of noise and air pollution. "With all the blackouts, generator noise, diesel fumes and flash floods in the rainy season due to the choked drains, life here has become horrible," said Ba Tin, a retired civil servant. "My whole family has developed a sort of migraine. We often get headaches and nausea, especially when the big diesel generators in the restaurants next door are running," he said.
Doctors and psychiatrists say they have had to treat an increased number of respiratory ailments and stress-related conditions, which they attribute to the noise and fumes. The situation grew so acute in February with the start of the hot season, when temperatures soar to 40˚C (104˚ F), that a small group Yangon residents staged a rare anti-government protest. "Our cause is for 24-hour electricity" the protesters chanted before they were arrested.
The widespread use of generators also creates a massive fire hazard, and local papers are full of reports of neighbourhoods or blocks burnt to the ground due to an unattended generator overheating.
Beyond Myanmar’s commercial centre, conditions appear to be even worse. Residents of Sittwe, the capital of the north-western state of Rakhine which is home to Myanmar's vast off-shore natural gas reserves, say they have not received any state electricity for a decade. Private companies sell power at K300 (US$0.24) a unit, compared with K25 in Yangon, and even then the lights are only on from 7pm. to 10pm -- just long enough for the junta's propaganda blitz on state-run MRTV. "As soon as MRTV's evening news ends, the blackout starts," Sittwe resident Ko Aung Khine told Reuters.
The only place not suffering is Naypyitaw, the secretive junta's brand new administrative capital, purpose-built in hills and scrubland about 240 mi (385 km) north of Yangon. Many in Yangon believe the blackouts are a deliberate ploy to make the port city iso insufferable that government workers and others will be happy to move to the Naypyitaw, which remains little more than a building site. "It's very strange that all the roads are brightly lit even though they are almost deserted day and night, while the crowded roads in Yangon have no lights," economics student Saw Lwin said. "You can't help wondering if the government is forcing all of us to go and settle in Naypyitaw," added his father, Ba Tin. "With the blackouts here every day, we can't do anything."
Additional references
See other entries under the category ‘Consumer Concerns and Power Shortages’. PS
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MOU ON UPPER THANLWIN HYDROPOWER PROJECT INKED

NLM, 07/04/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070407.htm

EPM-1 Zaw Min received V-P Zheng Yuewen and party of the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) of the PRC at his office, here yesterday. Also present at the call were DepMin Myo Myint, directors-general, Ch Li Hejun and officials of the ACFIC, MD Tun Myint Naing of Asia World Co and officials. They discussed implementation of the Upper Thanlwin hydropower project.
In the evening, a ceremony to sign an MoU on implementation of the project in northern Shan state between HPID and the Farsighted Investment Group Co Ltd and Gold Water Resources Ltd of the PRC was held at EPM No 1. In the presence of both electric power ministers Myint, and departmental officials V-P Zheng Yuewen and party of ACFIC and officials of Farsighted Investment Group Co Ltd and Gold Water Resources Ltd, MD Tun Myint Naing of Asia World Co and officials, D-G Aung Koe Shwe of HPID and CEO Li Hejun of ACFIC signed the MoU and exchanged notes.
HPID and Farsighted Investment Group Co Ltd will jointly implement Upper Thanlwin Hydro-power Project to generate about 2,400 MW.
Website

For a profile in English of the Hanergy Holdings Group, formerly known as Farsighted Investment Group Co, see http://www.hanergy.com/en/ContentDir/999/2606.aspx. According to the website, it is Hanergy’s policy to acquire investment in its projects through the international capital markets. Foreign projects are under consideration and subsidiaries involving companies or investors in foreign countries will be set up. One such company, Europe China Power BV, is mentioned and its wind and hydropower projects in the PRC are described. No mention is made of the hydro project on the Upper Thanlwin in Burma/Myanmar.

The following reference to the Jin’an Qiao hydropower station built by Hanergy Holdings near the border between Yunnan and Sichuan was posted by Dan Siekman on the GoYunnan website on 28/03/11. Information in the blog was attributed to to the government-run Yunnan website. Condensed.

http://gokunming.com/en/blog/item/2134/construction_of_dam_on_jinsha_river_completed

The 2,400-megawatt Jin'an Qiao (金安桥) hydropower station on the Jinsha River downstream from Lijiang officially opened Sunday [27/03/11]. It is the largest hydropower dam ever built entirely with private investment, according to Yunnan Net. It was built by Hanergy Holding Group, a Beijing-based energy company that has also been involved in a dam project on the Salween River in Myanmar. The Jinsha is a major headwater of the Yangtze that flows out of Tibet, through Yunnan and to Yibin, Sichuan, where it joins the Min River to form the Yangtze. Located about 30 kilometers east-southeast from Lijiang, the Jin'an Qiao dam is part of an eight-step cascading hydropower project on the section of the Jinsha downstream from Lijiang. The other seven dams are presumed to still be under various stages of construction. Progress has continued on dam projects on the Jinsha despite environmental concerns and accusations that the companies building them began construction without first gaining government approval.

Map references