Residents of Hakha City, the Chin State capital, have had no electricity for three months and are now having to pay owners of electricity generators to charge their phones and power banks.
A Hakha resident explained that the only way people could now charge phones and power banks was to pay owners of diesel and petrol-run electricity generators or solar panels, who are private individuals, to charge their appliances.
He added that the cost to charge a phone is 1,000 MMK and to charge a power bank it costs 1,500 MMK to 5,000 MMK, depending on the power bank ’s capacity and that paying such amounts every day is causing financial problems for many Hakha City residents.
He said: “Hakha’s been without electricity for about three months now. Since there’s no power, we have to pay just to charge our phones and power banks. Charging a phone costs around 1,000 MMK, small power banks go for about 1,500 MMK, medium ones around 2,500 MMK, and some people have even been charged up to 5,000 MMK for large power banks. In downtown Hakha, there are two spots near the old market where you can charge your devices. There are similar places in other wards too, but I’m not really sure exactly where. If this keeps going on much longer, it’s going to get really tough for everyone.”
But, according to the resident, employees of non governmental organisations (NGOs) are allowed to charge their phones for free after the NGOs came to an agreement with the people supplying the electricity.
The prolonged electricity outage has made life hard for Hakha residents and has affected essential activities like cooking and accessing drinking water.
In Hakha water is pumped up from wells using electrical pumps. Communities that cannot afford generators or solar power have to rely on the traditional method of pulling the water up out of the well in a bucket.
Many residents who can afford it have also bought small solar panels and batteries so that they can charge their phones and have lights at night.
Another Hakha City resident said to Khonumthung News: “We have to buy charcoal for cooking. Some people use gas stoves, but they’re not very common because there aren’t many places to refill the gas cylinders. We also can’t pump water anymore, so we have to buy water too. Rich people are managing by buying solar panels and inverters, and some use generators. But those who can’t afford any of that have to rely on candles at night. There have been lots of rumours saying the electricity will come back soon, but none of that’s happened. Now, nobody really believes those rumours anymore.”
Kale Town, in Kale Township, Sagaing Region, which borders Chin State, has also been without electricity for nearly five months.