Electricity costs to rise

26 June 2019
Electricity costs to rise
Myanmar workers with cables being attached to a newly built electric pylon on the hill at Kengtung district in Shan State, Myanmar, 24 June 2019. Myanmar government has announced the increase of the electricity rates (which will cost at least double to a normal household family) as the first time in last five years amid severely blackouts in Yangon and across the country. Photo: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA

Myanmar will raise electricity prices for the first time in five years, with rates as much as tripling for households and nearly doubling for businesses, Nikkei Asian Review reported.

The government's just-announced tariff increases take effect this coming Monday and will bring relief to money-losing utilities that have sold power for far below generating costs.

According to the report, demand for electric power is growing 11% a year, based on estimates published in a World Bank report this month.

But supply, much of it from hydropower, has struggled to keep up as aging infrastructure falls into disrepair.