Starved off energy needs, people in southern Burma favour electricity supply from private power distributing agencies given the delay in the government setting up power lines in the area.

Local people paid hundreds of million Kyats to the Burmese junta's Ministry of Electric Power to setup power lines to local villages in Mudon, Thanpbuzayat, Ye in Mon State and Hpa-an in Karen State .

"My family paid about one million Kyats but the nothing has happened so far. Now electricity is available because we changed to a private company," a villager in Mudon Township said over telephone.

"Some villages in southern Mudon Township have been waiting for government electricity for years and they started switching to private companies just last month.

The local people in the area are also interested in buying electricity from private players, but a majority of them are finding it difficult because they have already applied for government power.

Private electricity is paid by units and the price is equal to a bottle (Six bottles per gallon) of diesel at 4200 Kyat.

"We can cook, watch TV, and light up well. Depending on usage we have to pay more. We pay about 10,000 Kyat a month for electricity," a private electricity consumer told IMNA.

But some government power consumers claimed that they are better off than buying electricity from private firms because they have to pay just around 50 Kyat per unit. Some consumers said they do face power cuts.

Some villages are waiting for permission to consume government power supply through transmission lines setup on their own.

Ko Than Oo & Brothers, close to Tenasserim based military commander, runs a private power generating company in northern Ye township. A majority of private power generators use diesel.

The private company is telling people that they will provide electricity if the 160 families from a village apply.