An in-house Tepco panel has found that the financially troubled utility paid two to five times more than reasonable levels in buying goods and services to run its operations.

The panel's investigation found that Tokyo Electric Power Co. came up with a quote of ¥21 million for work at one of its nuclear power plants that the panel said could be reduced by ¥10 million.

It also estimated that work for laying underground cables could be reduced by as much as 33 percent by opening the bid to more businesses.