Electricity sales by the nation's 10 utilities in July rose for the first time in seven months, climbing 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 70.19 billion kilowatt-hours, an industry body said in a preliminary report Monday.
The rise is attributable to higher-than-usual temperatures and increased demand for industrial use during the reporting month, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.
Large-lot sales to corporate users gained 0.7 percent to 23.93 billion kwh for the first year-on-year rise in 14 months.
Among seven industry fields, sales increased in five fields including steel and machinery, showing signs of recovering production.
Sales to households also grew 3.2 percent to 20.03 billion kwh due to increased use of air-conditioning units.