A resident in his 40s living in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward was astounded in early February when he saw a notice of the previous month’s electricity bill exceeding 30,000 yen. The resident, who is from a two-person household, said, “Usually it was regarding 10,000 yen, but I’ve never seen such an amount, even in winter.” But when I looked around, I was on the better side. On Twitter, he posted a picture of a notice saying, “Electricity bill in January is 65,554 yen.”
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A resident in his 40s living in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward was astounded in early February when he saw a notice of the previous month’s electricity bill exceeding 30,000 yen. The resident, who is from a two-person household, said, “Usually it was regarding 10,000 yen, but I’ve never seen such an amount, even in winter.” But when I looked around, I was on the better side. On Twitter, he posted a photo of a notice that read, “The electricity bill for January was 65,554 yen.” There was writing. This tweet has garnered 12.45 million views and 39,000 “likes” from Japanese people.
In Japan, where prices have not risen for 30 years, a 20-30% surge in electricity prices is a tragedy that the Japanese have never experienced before. Tepco said it was unavoidable because of the sharp rise in oil and natural gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But this is the “half right” truth. While Tokyo residents have been hit hard by skyrocketing electricity prices, Osaka residents are not paying as much. Currently, even if the same amount of electricity is used, Tokyo costs regarding 20% more than Osaka. There is only one difference between Tokyo and Osaka. whether or not the nuclear power plant is operating. TEPCO does not have a single nuclear power plant (nuclear reactor for power generation) in operation, but Kanden operates five.
Japan has a structure in which 10 power companies supply electricity to each region. Different electric power companies own and operate various power plants, including thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, and wind power plants. Partly because electricity prices were subject to government control, the business structure of each electric power company was essentially the same. The situation changed because local governments responded differently following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011.
At that time, Japan suspended all 57 nuclear power plants (nuclear reactors for power generation) for the time being. After that, only reactors that passed a thorough review were restarted. It is impossible to restart nuclear reactors without the permission of local governments and local residents, and seven companies including TEPCO, Tohoku Electric Power, Hokuden Electric Power, Chuden Electric Power, and Chugoku Electric Power have yet to restart a single nuclear reactor. On the other hand, Kanden, Kyuden, and Yonden found a point of agreement despite some opposition from local residents, and succeeded in restarting five, four, and one reactors, respectively.
Whether or not they have nuclear power plants shook the track record of Japan’s power companies last year. With oil and natural gas prices more than doubling at one point, TEPCO posted a record deficit of 650.9 billion yen from April to December last year. Fossil fuel procurement costs more than doubled from the previous year, and the deficit increased accordingly. TEPCO’s thermal power generation ratio reaches 77% (as of 2021). Fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices were unmanageable. Kanden, on the other hand, posted a deficit of 124.4 billion yen. The ratio of thermal power generation was 43%, and the deficit was small accordingly.
The problem is that the difference in electricity prices between Tokyo and Osaka will widen further in the future. In January, seven companies including TEPCO requested the government to raise prices by 27% to 42%. TEPCO plans to raise the rate by 28.6% from June this year. It will have to go through deliberations by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, but it is unlikely that approval will be disapproved, just because the reason for the increase is the rapid increase in costs. Kanden and Kyuden, on the other hand, did not request a rate increase. Kanden’s side is in the position that “it can still be endured.” If the operating rate of nuclear power plants rises by 1%, costs can be reduced by 9.5 billion yen.
According to the “Average Electricity Charges for General Households by Power Company in June This Year,” recently compiled by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Okiden (10,500 yen), TEPCO (9,917 yen), and Hokuden (9,899 yen) are the highest charges. was in the top three. All of these areas have no nuclear power plants or are not operating. On the contrary, the cheapest ones were Kanden (5,677 yen) and Kyuden (5,526 yen), which operate many nuclear power plants. The Nikkei reported, “Even though Japan is the same country, there will be a 70% difference in electricity bills paid by residents of Tokyo and Osaka this June.” Between Okinawa and Kyushu, the difference in electricity prices is expected to widen to almost double.
Tokyo = Correspondent Song Ho Chul
Chosun Ilbo / Chosun Ilbo Japanese version
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