8 Major Japan Power Firms Log Net Losses in April-Dec.

Jiji Press

16:32 JST, February 2, 2023

TOKOYO (Jiji Press) — Eight of Japan’s nine major power utilities incurred hefty group net losses in April-December, according to their latest earnings reports released by Wednesday.

In the first nine months of fiscal 2022, the power suppliers were battered by surges in procurement costs for liquefied natural gas and coal for power generation chiefly brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Of the eight, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. , or TEPCO, Tohoku Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co. and Hokuriku Electric Power Co. booked record net losses, of ¥650.9 billion, ¥230.3 billion, ¥166.7 billion and ¥75.7 billion, respectively.

Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. suffered respective net losses of ¥124.4 billion and ¥89.4 billion.

Meanwhile, Shikoku Electric Power Co. posted a net profit of ¥1.8 billion, thanks to reduction in fuel costs through th¥e reactivation of the No. 3 reactor at its Ikata nuclear power plant.

Okinawa Electric Power Co. is scheduled to release its earnings report on Friday.

For the full business year, eight firms project net losses, while Chubu Electric Power Co. revised its earlier ¥130 billion net loss estimate to newly expects a net profit of ¥50 billion, as fuel prices and costs to procure electricity from the wholesale market have dropped recently.

Meanwhile, the nine companies are projected to incur a combined loss of some ¥400 billion stemming from higher fuel costs for the current year, including TEPCO’s ¥100 billion.

Amid the deteriorating business environment, Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric, TEPCO, Hokuriku Electric, Chugoku Electric and Shikoku Electric, as well as Okinawa Electric, have filed for industry ministry approval to raise their regulated electricity rates for households by about 28% to 45% in April or later.