At least forty shops and residents have been fined by officials in Naypyidaw for purchasing illegal electricity from a Military Training Battalion (TB) in Moulmein.

Last week, officials from the Myanmar Electric Power Corporation (MEPC), under the Ministry of Electric Power in Naypyidaw, inspected power lines connected to the TB’s compound and cut ones illegally drawing power.

The next week, on November 12th, illegal power users were told they would be fined. “An MEPC officer told us we would have to pay 2.3 million kyat at the MEPC office on Monday," a shop owner who was fined explained. The fined users, which mostly include teashops, restaurants and small stores, will each have to contribute around 50 thousand kyat to pay down the total fine.

According to a shop owner, a major from the TB who sold the power to shop owners, as well as used it for his own shop, will have to pay 5.5 million kyat.

Legally drawing power from government sources requires navigating one of Burma’s characteristic bureaucratic mazes, which includes fees for metering and other requirements. Many of the shops in question had not purchased permission from the government to draw power.

Other shops had purchased permission to legally draw electricity, but wanted additional power from the battalion. These shop owners report that they have been receiving less power from legal sources since the crackdown. The current levels are not enough to run the shops, says an IMNA source, and some owners have to use generators.