Pyongyang's Ongryu Bridge. (DPRK Today)

Pyongyang may be described in North Korean propaganda as the “capital of the revolution,” but it does not have a steady supply of electricity. In fact, local authorities are charging city residents the full price of electricity despite the inconveniences caused by the unreliable power supply, which even impact the heart of the metropolis. 

“Residents in the Jung District in central Pyongyang had access to electricity for an average of four hours a day in March. Neighboring districts typically had power for an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes in ten-minute spurts, though the supply varies with the importance of organizations based nearby,” a reporting partner in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Mar. 31, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. 

In 2019, Daily NK reported that Pyongyang’s central districts had power for about five hours, while satellite districts only had electricity for about an hour or two. That suggests that the power supply has not improved over the past five years; if anything, it has deteriorated.

According to the reporting partner, Pyongyang streetlights are only on from 8 to 11 PM. But the statues and monuments that serve the regime’s propaganda are illuminated all night by dim bulbs. In effect, the regime continues to power the tools of propaganda despite the limited supply of electricity.

“Electricity has always been less reliable in the winter. People are expected to pay their full electricity bills to their people’s committee whether the power comes on for an hour or just for ten minutes each day,” the reporting partner said.

Electricity bills in Pyongyang’s central districts are reportedly divided into a basic fee and an extra usage fee. That is to say, local residents have to pay extra when their electricity usage exceeds the amount covered by the basic fee.

A 2023 calendar published by North Korea’s Foreign Languages Publishing House. Luxury apartments in the Pyongyang neighborhood of Kyongru-dong were featured on the November page. (Daily NK)

But in neighboring districts, many houses do not have electricity meters installed. In that case, the electricity bill is calculated according to the number of appliances in the house.

People are very frustrated that the authorities are charging power bills regardless of how much power was actually used, the reporting partner said.

The shortage of electricity continues to create inconveniences for people who live in high-rise buildings, he added. 

Numerous high-rise apartments have been built in new districts of Pyongyang, including Songsin and Songhwa, since the regime announced a plan to build 50,000 homes in the capital during the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2021.

“Assuming the power comes on, the taps run once every couple of days. That sets off a battle to draw water in every apartment in Pyongyang,” the reporting partner said.

North Korea uses a gravity-fed water system, in which treated water is first pumped up to a water tank at a high level and then supplied to families by gravity. But the pump doesn’t have enough electricity to function properly, leaving tenants without a regular supply of water.

When no water is available, tenants have to descend to the river to draw some, which puts a particular burden on those living on the higher floors, the reporting partner said.

“Tenants on the higher floors pull up [buckets of] water with a pulley installed on their window. Several complaints have come in after the water buckets have tipped over, spilling their contents on the heads of passersby,” the reporting partner said.

“Tenants can’t rely on the elevator [because of the power shortage]. Elderly people on the high levels are left to gaze down from their windows, like cooped up chickens, and many of them haven’t set foot on the ground in a long time.”

Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler. 

Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.  

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