7 Major Japanese Power Utilities Incur Losses In 2nd Quarter

Seven of Japan’s 10 major power utilities incurred consolidated net losses in April-June 2022, battered by surges in prices of liquefied natural gas and coal for power generation, according to their latest earnings reports released Tuesday, Jiji Press reported.

Photo Insert: Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. booked a loss of ¥67 billion.

Although the companies have systems to reflect higher fuel costs in electricity bills, recent rises in fuel prices exceeded upper limits in the systems.

Of the seven, Tohoku Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., and Okinawa Electric Power Co. logged net losses of ¥31.2 billion, ¥9.2 billion, ¥26.7 billion, and ¥6.8 billion, respectively, recording the largest amounts for each since they started releasing quarterly earnings reports.

“It’s difficult for each company to cope with global fuel price surges,” said Takashi Nakano, a senior official of Kyushu Electric Power Co., which posted a loss of ¥34.8 billion. Kansai Electric Power Co.’s loss came to ¥11.4 billion.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2022, the company was unable to pass on around ¥3 billion of soaring fuel costs to electricity bills. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. booked a loss of ¥67 billion, Yomiuri Shimbun also reported.

Meanwhile, Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., and Shikoku Electric Power Co. posted net profits of ¥10.4 billion, ¥20.5 billion, and ¥2.2 billion. “If fuel prices remain high, we’ll face a tougher earnings situation in the second quarter and later,” Hokkaido Electric President Yutaka Fujii said.

For the full business year to March 2023, Tohoku Electric, Kansai Electric, and Okinawa Electric projected net losses of ¥180 billion, ¥75 billion, and ¥30.8 billion.

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