Tag - electricity

 
 

ELECTRICITY

Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2014
Kansai Electric applies for household rate hike
Kansai Electric Power Co., blaming higher fossil fuel costs, applied to the government Wednesday for permission to raise its rates for households by 10.23 percent on average starting in April.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2014
Experts say faults at nuclear plant in northeast Japan could be active
A panel advising the Nuclear Regulation Authority said Monday it can't rule out the possibility that key geological faults running under the Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori Prefecture are active.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2014
Japan suggests nuclear decommissioning costs be passed to all power customers
The government says reactor decommissioning costs ought to be passed on to all customers even after the electricity market is opened to newcomers in 2016.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2014
Seven utilities only capable of accepting 58% of solar power energy
A study has found that seven of the nation's utilities lack the transmission network capacity to accept all of the solar power energy that suppliers plan to generate under the feed-in tariff system, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2014
Blackout leaves bullet train riders in the cold in Niigata
Heavy snow caused a power outage along parts of the Joetsu Shinkansen Line for about six hours on Sunday morning, leaving some 300 passengers trapped in a bullet train for 2½ hours near the mountainous southern border of Niigata Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2014
Tepco unlikely to raise prices again in 2014
Tokyo Electric Power Co. will likely forgo another price hike before the March 31 end of fiscal 2014 because it plans to cut costs further, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2014
Green energy tariffs draw scrutiny
A committee involved with the nation's energy policy met Wednesday to discuss revisions to the 2-year-old feed-in tariff system for renewable energy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2014
Hokkaido Electric to execute second price hike in November
Hokkaido Electric Power Co. will raise electricity prices for households on Nov. 1, the industry ministry said Friday, as rising fossil fuel costs weigh on the utility's earnings following the loss of nuclear power.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2014
Clean energy boom challenges power grid
Four regional utilities stopped signing contracts to buy renewable energy from big solar power plants and other suppliers starting Wednesday, limiting an influx that is testing the nation's electricity grid.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2014
Chugoku Electric mulls selling power outside service area
Chugoku Electric Power Co. is considering selling electricity outside its service area like other utilities as Japan moves to fully liberalize its power market around April 2016, company sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2014
Liberalizing the power market
Legislation enacted in June will end the decades-long monopoly of Japan's regional utility companies by liberalizing the retail sale of electricity to households in 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2014
Tepco to provide power to Yamada Denki's Kansai, Chubu stores: NHK
Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start providing electricity to Yamada Denki Co.'s stores in the Kansai and Chubu regions in October, NHK reported Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2014
Don't bank on nuclear restarts
Power companies are moving again to raise their electricity rates to get out of dire financial straits caused by the increased cost of importing fuel to run more thermal power plants while their nuclear power reactors remain idled.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2014
Preparing for the next big solar storm
The probability of a solar storm striking Earth in the next decade with enough force to do serious damage to electricity networks, lasting perhaps for months, could be as high as 12 percent.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2014
Orix plans to build as many as 15 geothermal plants in Japan
Orix Corp. plans to build as many as 15 geothermal power stations in Japan over the next five years.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2014
Electricity gold rush heralds end for monopolies
Watami Co., a restaurant chain known best as a hangout for salarymen, is getting into the business of selling power — and it isn't alone.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2014
Politics at the root of India's power problems
India finally has an integrated nationwide power system. Now it needs to sweep away the entrenched interests in the state electricity boards and shift to a full cost-recovery model.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2014
Households free to choose power supplier
The Diet on Wednesday enacted legislation to end the grip regional monopolies have held for 60 years on the household electricity market by opening it up to greater competition.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 22, 2014
IHI sees future for small geothermal projects amid clean energy boom
IHI Corp. expects the market for small geothermal projects to take off in Japan as it seeks cleaner sources of energy.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2014
No electricity-saving targets this summer
The government said Friday it won't set numerical power-saving targets this summer even though concerns about shortages linger, especially among suppliers in the west and southwest.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores