Ponnagyun residents dispute township electricity office’s push to collect supposedly outstanding bills

25 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
25 January 2023, Ponnagyun

Ponnagyun Township residents and the township electricity office have been locked in disputes after the office recently began making efforts to collect on what it says are outstanding electricity bills dating back to 2021.

Staff from the township electricity office have cut off electricity in some households, citing the supposedly unpaid electricity bills.

“They came to my house on January 23, and said I have some outstanding electricity bills. But I have paid electricity bills every month. They then cut off the electricity and told me to come to the electricity office,” said Ko Nay Tun, a resident of Myothit Ward in Ponnagyun.

He was told by the electricity office that he had yet to pay five months of electricity bills from 2021, and was forced to pay two months of electricity bills to reinstate service.

“They would have come and cut off the electricity if we had failed to pay the electricity bill for even just one month. How can it be possible that I didn’t pay for five months? They said I had to pay K290,000 in outstanding electricity bills,” said Ko Nay Tun. “I couldn’t afford it, and so I paid for two months. They said they would collect the remaining three months later. I have paid electricity bills every month. Many households in the town have been asked to pay outstanding electricity bills. It is not fair.”

In another case, electricity office staff came to the house of Ko Than Htoo in Sanpya Ward, Ponnagyun Township, on January 19, saying he had nine months of outstanding electricity bills from 2021. He was forced to pay K300,000.

“We paid our electricity bills every month. And we could not find receipts from 2021. They insisted that we didn’t pay the electricity bills, and threatened to cut off the electricity. So I paid the money,” said Ko Than Htoo.

DMG was unable to obtain comment from officials at the Ponnagyun Township electricity office.

“Such cases have been reported in every ward. Even ward administrators have to pay what they call outstanding electricity bills. Six to seven households have been asked to pay the bills on every street. I heard the outstanding bills total nearly K100 million,” said U Aye Maung, a resident of Ywar Haung Ward in Ponnagyun.

Like other parts of Myanmar, Arakan State has suffered from lengthy power outages since late 2021. Daily blackouts continue in Arakan State, lasting at least four hours each day.