Homes and buildings are seen in a power outage in the area following an earthquake at Toshima Station in Tokyo, Japan March 17, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
TOKYO, March 22 – Japan’s government on Tuesday issued its first-ever electricity supply warning after an earthquake shut down several plants last week, with the deficit caused by technical problems affecting Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued the alert for areas served by Tokyo Electric (Tepco) and Tohoku Electric Power Co in anticipation of a surge in demand to meet heating needs as temperatures drop. The government also urged citizens to reduce their energy consumption.
“We are asking for your cooperation to save as much electricity as possible, for example by setting your thermostats to around 20 degrees Celsius and turning off unnecessary lights,” Cabinet Chef Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference.
Matsuno added that the call for power savings is unlikely to extend beyond Tuesday given the expected rise in temperatures and the addition of more solar power generation in better weather.
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck northeast Japan last Wednesday destroyed equipment and forced six thermal power plants in regions served by Tepco (9501.T) and Tohoku Electric (9506.T) to close. Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda previously told parliament that it could take weeks or months for some of these plants to start operating again.
Snow fell in Tokyo on Tuesday, and temperatures are expected to reach just 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to a high of 14 degrees on Monday.
Coinciding with the supply warning, Tepco said on Tuesday that technical problems caused a power outage for about 2,120 homes in three prefectures near Tokyo as of 11:34 a.m. (0234 GMT).
Hiroshi Okamoto, an executive at TEPCO Power Grid, told reporters at a government news conference that the outages were unrelated to the power shortage.
Tepco said it has no plans to implement planned outages but warned there could be power outages in the evening. The company has commissioned seven regional energy suppliers to supply up to 1.42 million kilowatts of electricity.
Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Kantaro Komiya; Additional reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu and Sakura Murakami; Edited by Chang-Ran Kim and Christian Schmollinger