The government issued a "power supply and demand tight warning" for the first time, saying that the power supply and demand situation on the 22nd is extremely severe within the jurisdiction of TEPCO.


While the power plant is not being restored due to the earthquake on the 16th of this month, the temperature may drop on the 22nd and the demand for electricity may increase. We are calling on you to cooperate in saving electricity as much as possible.



We will tell you in detail in the press commentary why the power supply and demand is tight and what kind of measures are required to prevent power outages.



[The video is the content reported in the news at 7 am on the 22nd]

Q. How serious is it?


A. It is a difficult situation that has never happened since the rolling blackouts were implemented after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Within the TEPCO jurisdiction, it is an extremely difficult situation that the supply capacity cannot be sufficiently secured to meet the expected power demand.



Q. Why did such a situation of tight power supply and demand occur?


A. Three factors overlapped.


(1) One is the shutdown of thermal power plants due to the earthquake


(2) Unexpected coldness


(3) And the government and electric power companies were wary of the tightening of electricity supply and demand this winter. At the end of February, some of the support was canceled.



First of all, regarding (1) the shutdown of thermal power generation, due to the impact of the earthquake on the 16th of this month when a seismic intensity of 6 upper was observed, Hirono Thermal Power Station Unit 6 in Fukushima Prefecture, which sends electricity to the TEPCO jurisdiction, Shinchi Thermal Power A total of two power plants, Unit 1, are still stopped.

And on the 22nd, it will rain and we cannot expect electricity from solar power generation.



And (2) this cold.


It seems that the demand for heating will greatly exceed the demand outlook of TEPCO due to the cold weather that seems to have returned to winter.



Regarding (3), the national government and electric power companies have been on the alert, saying that the outlook for electricity supply and demand nationwide will be the strictest in the last 10 years this winter.

Of these, the measures to temporarily operate the old thermal power plant, which had been shut down, were canceled at the end of February because it became warm in March, so the situation is that there is no more spare capacity.



Q. What kind of response will TEPCO take?


A. At TEPCO, in addition to maximizing the output of thermal power plants, we also receive power interchange from other electric power companies.

From 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, we will receive a total of 1.41 million kilowatts from seven companies including Tohoku Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power.

▽ We are also calling on companies that have private power generators to operate the generators to the maximum extent possible.



Q. It means that you can save as much power as possible with the "tight alarm", but what happens if you cannot save power?


A. If power saving is not promoted between households and businesses, demand will greatly exceed supply capacity, and in the worst case, it may lead to a large-scale power outage.



Q. What can you do to prevent a power outage?


A. From 8:00 am to 11:00 pm, the government is requesting households and businesses under the jurisdiction of TEPCO to save about 10% of electricity.

TEPCO is calling for the following things that can be done at home.



There is a forecast that it will get colder on the 22nd, and I think that there are many people who turn on the heating, but


○ Warm up in one place as much as possible so as not to turn on the heating in different rooms at home,


○ Be sure to turn off the lights and heating of the room you are not using.


○ It is also effective to turn on the heating to 20 degrees without raising the set temperature too much.



Cooperation in saving electricity is indispensable to prevent power outages.