Quake Causes Tight Power Supply In Tokyo, 15 Other Prefectures

Tokyo and 15 other prefectures from central to northeastern Japan faced tight power supply-demand situations on Tuesday, Mar. 22, 2022, as some power plants remain offline following a powerful earthquake last week as well as larger-than-usual electricity consumption due to cold weather, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: Crumbled houses in the wake of the recent Japan earthquake

The industry ministry and Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. warned a power outage might occur after 8 p.m., affecting around 2 to 3 million households in the areas serviced by TEPCO and Tohoku Electric Power Co., due to a smaller-than-expected decline in consumption despite their requests that power be conserved.

Later Tuesday, the ministry said that power consumption had shown a notable decline after 3 p.m. in TEPCO's service areas, apparently due to commercial users' further cuts in electricity use. It said these areas were likely to avert a blackout for the rest of the day.

The ministry and the two utilities had called on households and workplaces in their service areas to conserve energy by turning off lights when not needed and setting heating to a maximum of 20 C, with operations of some thermal power plants still suspended after last Wednesday's quake that hit the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan.

The government issued Monday night its first-ever warning over electricity availability, and it has drawn criticism over its short notice.

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