Japan Govt OKs Power Suppliers' Household Rate Hikes

Tokyo, May 19 (Jiji Press)--Japan's industry ministry said Friday that it has approved seven major electricity suppliers' plans to raise regulated power rates for households by between about 15 pct and 43 pct on average, effective on June 1.

The seven companies include Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., which will raise rates by 15.9 pct on average.

For a standard household using 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity monthly, rates for June will rise by between some 1,300 yen and 4,200 yen from May to between 11,647 yen and 14,681 yen.

From rates for January, the government offers a discount of 2,800 yen per month. Rates will rise again in October unless the discount program is extended beyond the planned expiration in September.

Hit by surging fuel costs, the power suppliers applied between last November and January this year for approval to raise household power rates by some 30 pct to 50 pct on average.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]