Myanmar’s worsening power woes leave factory workers in dangerous heat

By Kiana Duncan for RFA2024.11.27

When temperatures soar in Myanmar, industry unions brace for a familiar wave of complaints from workers, many echoing the same problem: harsh conditions in factories because of the heat.

“It began with the electricity,” said a member of the Myanmar Industry Craft Service trade union, or MICS, a prominent workers’ union.

“When the season is very hot, the factory uses a generator. But they only use it for the machines used by workers, not for the air ventilation system. So workers are unable to work in appropriate conditions.”

MICS is not alone. A third of firms surveyed by the World Bank in April reported power shortage issues as the biggest challenge for their company, an increase from 12% in September 2023.

Large parts of the country of 60 million people are not even connected to the electricity grid and for those that are, power cuts are frequent and can last for hours.

Data from the National Unity Government, or NUG, a shadow government in exile formed by members of the civilian administration ousted in a 2021 coup, shows that daily power usage dropped from nearly 4,000 megawatts in 2021 to about 3,000 megawatts by June 2024.

The junta told media in November that Myanmar required 5,500 megawatts of generation capacity. Despite claiming its hydropower and gas plants could produce over 7,000 megawatts, the junta blamed shortages on Typhoon Yagi that hit hard in September, reduced natural gas supplies and damaged transmission lines.

The NUG, however, attributes the crisis to the junta’s mismanagement, the prioritization of military spending over basic services and refusal to honor previous fuel agreements set up by the democratic government through Thaliwa Port in Yangon.

The NLD government signed Power Purchase Agreements with CNTIC VPower for LNG-to-power projects, including a 350 megawatts plant at Thilawa port. LNG imports, Myanmar’s first, began in 2020 to meet rising electricity demand.

“According to the contract, they have to pay for the monthly tariff. But they gave up in 2021, after six months, the vessels went back. Because of this, Yangon has insufficient power,” said the NUG’s energy minister Soe Thura Tun.

“So we have to collect from other sites on the national grid, like hydropower, generators and the gas turbines.”

The junta has not responded to Radio Free Asia’s request for comment by the time of this publication.

Challenges

Compounding the problem, of the 62 thermal, hydropower and solar plants whose functionality was surveyed by the NUG, nearly half are inoperable.

Rebel-controlled border areas where hydropower is common, and oil-rich central regions with frequent anti-junta insurgent activity, have been particularly affected, significantly disrupting power production.

The World Bank said in a late 2023 report that authorities reported the power grid has been attacked 229 times between February 2021 and April 2023. Fighting has surged since then.

A loss of foreign investment due to the conflict and environmental problems have also caused huge losses in power sources for the country.

In August, Singaporean energy giant Sembcorp Industries announced its suspension of operations in Myanmar due to “escalating civil unrest” after pro-democracy rebels launched an offensive against junta forces in the vicinity of its US$300 million Myingyan Independent Power Plant

The plant, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Mandalay city, was one of the largest gas-fired power plants in the country, supplying some five million people with electricity.

Worsening situation

Both the junta and the NUG have proposed various solutions, including the military’s nearly 50 power plant projects focused on wind, natural gas and solar power, but for the time being, civilians are facing the brunt of the problem.

A member of the MICS told RFA that the organization had received hundreds of complaints about extreme heat in factories, where workers have suffered symptoms of heatstroke, including disoriented, dizziness and even loss of consciousness.

“It’s becoming worse and the weather is getting hotter year by year, but factories focus only on their productivity,” he said. “They don’t account for workers based on the minimum standard. For example, they put a lot of workers in a building but there’s no sufficient ventilation system.”

Others point to the loss of opportunity for youth and rising costs of electricity on rural families.

While access to electricity has been a worsening problem since the coup, it became even less stable after insurgent forces captured a hydropower plant in Kayin state that Mon state depends on for power, said Aue Mon Nai, Human Rights Foundation of Monland program director.

About 1.5 million students in Mon state are affected by the cuts, struggling to study after dark, attend after-school tutoring classes and access the internet.

“In my experience, I only witnessed two-hour, three-hour-sessions per day,” he said, referring to when the power was on.

“Sometimes they’re shut off for two or three days. The poor are impacted and affected, it’s like that for the students. Without electricity, they can’t study, do their homework, they have to struggle like that.”

Edited by Taejun Kang.