The outlook for electricity supply and demand this winter is expected to be the toughest in the last decade, with only 3% of the power supply reserves for peak demand in seven areas nationwide.
For this reason, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has decided to call for energy conservation as much as possible for households and businesses.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry presented the outlook for electricity supply and demand this winter at a meeting of experts on the 26th.
The supply and demand outlook looks at the reserve capacity of the supply for the peak power demand as a numerical value called the reserve ratio.
According to this, assuming a harsh winter, the reserve margin for February next year will be 3.1% within the TEPCO jurisdiction and 3.9% in six areas such as Chubu, Kansai, and Kyushu, which is a difficult situation.
The 7 areas in the 3% range are the toughest in the last decade.
In addition, Tohoku is 4.4%, Hokkaido is 7%, and Okinawa is 33.8%.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has decided to call for energy conservation to the extent possible for households and businesses, saying that supply and demand may become tight due to problems with power plants and lack of fuel such as LNG = liquefied natural gas.
We also require electric power companies to thoroughly maintain and manage their power generation facilities and to secure sufficient inventories of LNG and other products.