Just as Tokyo Electric Power Co. is under fire for trying to raise consumers' electricity bills before making sufficient efforts to streamline its management, a series of cases have surfaced in which the company appeared to be trying to strengthen its political influence by sending employees to prefectural and municipal assemblies.

It has been confirmed so far that there are 19 members of various local legislatures who are still on the payroll of Tepco.

Tatsuo Ishiguro, a member of the Democratic Party of Japan, was elected to the Nerima Ward assembly in Tokyo in April last year, shortly after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 played havoc with Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.