TEPCO to cut household electricity bills in July
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. is expected to lower its electricity rate for a standard household by 616 yen from the previous month to 8,236 yen in July, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The reduction is largely as a result of subsidies that the Japanese government plans to provide for three months starting next month to lower electricity and city gas bills to mitigate the impact of higher prices on households.
Nine other major power suppliers and four major city gas providers in Japan are also likely to reduce their rates considerably.
The government will pay subsidies of 2 yen per kilowatt-hour of electricity in July and September, and 2.4 yen in August, when power consumption usually grows because of the increased use of air conditioners.
For city gas, the government will spend 8 yen per cubic meter in July and September and 10 yen in August.
TEPCO assumes that a standard household consumes 260 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.
The company expects the subsidies to lower the bill for a standard household by 520 yen in July. Its July rates will also reflect lower costs for coal and liquefied natural gas that are used for power generation.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Photo by Reuters
