Japan Government to Lower Gasoline Prices ¥10 Per Liter from May 22; Electricity, Gas Bill Subsidies to Resume from July

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:51 JST, April 22, 2025

The government will lower gasoline prices by ¥10 per liter, starting May 22, as a measure to combat rising prices, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The subsidy system for electricity and gas bills will also be resumed from July to September, when demand for air conditioning typically increases.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was expected to make an official announcement Tuesday, following a request from the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

The subsidies for gasoline, which began in January 2022, have been provided to oil wholesalers to keep the national average price of regular gasoline down. The current target for the national average is about ¥185 per liter.

The government will maintain the flat ¥10 per liter reduction regardless of whether the national average price significantly increases or falls below the ¥185 mark. The end date of the subsidy will be based on the status of negotiations between ruling and opposition parties regarding the abolition of the provisional extra tax rate that is currently levied on top of the gasoline tax.

The subsidy system for electricity and gas bills, which ended in March, will be resumed in preparation for the summer heat. Under the system implemented from August to September last year, a ¥4 per kilowatt-hour subsidy was provided.

With the current downward trend in energy prices in mind, the government will decide on the size of the subsidy by the end of May, which could be less than ¥4 per kilowatt-hour.

The government will not compile a supplementary budget. It will instead utilize existing funds for the gasoline subsidy. The subsidies for electricity and gas bills will be funded from the government’s reserve funds for this fiscal year of about ¥700 billion.