Kansai Electric’s Mori Selected Head of Power Utility Group

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan said Friday that it has selected Kansai Electric Power Co. President Nozomu Mori as its new chairman. Mori, 63, assumed the position at the industry group, which comprises the country’s 10 major power utilities, the same day. The appointment came after the previous head, Chubu Electric Power Co. President Kingo Hayashi, stepped down last month so he could focus on dealing with a discovery of data fraud at his company’s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka. The industry group’s chiefs are appointed for a two-year term in principle. This was the first time for a leader to be selected from Kansai Electric since the firm’s then President Shigeki Iwane resigned in October 2019 to take responsibility for a scandal in which company executives received money and gifts from a former official of the town of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture in central Japan. In his inaugural press conference Friday, Mori said that the Chubu Electric data fraud was “an extremely serious incident that could shake the foundations of the nuclear power business” and pledged to do everything possible as an industry to regain public trust. The chairman emphasized the challenge of ensuring stable power supply in the country, saying, “It’s important to operate and restart existing nuclear plants in a stable way, as well as to consider refurbishing them.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]