Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Jan. 17 that it will seek an average 17 percent hike in electricity rates from April for some 240,000 enterprises having contracts for 50 kW or more. It hopes to raise some ¥400 billion annually through the hike and to use the revenue to finance part of the fuel costs of increased thermal power generation necessitated by the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The rise of power costs will affect not only major manufacturers and non-manufacturers, including department stores, but also medium and small factories, supermarkets and hospitals.
In fiscal 2010, 22 percent of corporate electricity users were machinery makers, 12 percent chemical makers and 9 percent steel makers. The move to raise power costs could lead to accelerate the hollowing out of Japanese industries.