Japan’s 10 Major Power Firms to Cut Rates by over 1,000 Yen

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s 10 major power utilities Thursday announced plans to lower their electricity rates by over 1,000 yen for a standard household next January, thanks to a resumption of government subsidies to cushion the impact of inflation. The fee for an average household is set to fall by 1,170 yen to 7,464 yen in the regular service area of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. Chubu Electric Power Co. will see the steepest drop among the power utilities at 1,175 yen, while Hokkaido Electric Power Co. will have the smallest drop at 1,028 yen. Government subsidies for household electricity bills are set at 4.5 yen per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, the government will give city gas subsidies of 18 yen per cubic meter. As a result, Tokyo Gas Co.’s rate for a standard household will fall 545 yen to 5,106 yen. Osaka Gas Co. will see the largest drop at 548 yen, and Saibu Gas Co. the smallest at 419 yen. The government has been subsidizing electricity and gas rates intermittently since 2023, automatically reflecting them in consumers’ utility bills as discounts based on their power and city gas usage. The new round of subsidies covers January-March 2026, when heating demand typically rises. The government expects the measure to curb household utility bills by a total of about 7,300 yen. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]