The government will allow seven of Japan’s major power companies to raise household electricity prices from June, a move likely to add to inflation.
The price hikes will be between 14% and 42%, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in a news conference Tuesday morning. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which supplies electricity to the capital, received approval for the smallest rate increase among the regional utilities.
Power companies in the resource-scant nation have been hammered by the global energy crisis as costs for importing fossil fuels surge. Higher electricity bills would fuel upward momentum in prices as the Bank of Japan keeps a close eye on the sustainability of inflation.