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


We are calling on homes and businesses to save electricity in order to avoid large-scale power outages.


This is a commentary from the Toyonaga Desk of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.



* The lighting in the studio is turned down more than usual to save electricity.



[Video: 2 minutes 30 seconds]



(Not available on 22nd 7:00 pm broadcast, data broadcast)

"Usage rate", which indicates the ratio of demand to the power supply capacity, means that the higher this number is, the more room there is.



From the morning, the numbers have risen to the right, 101% at 10 am and 107% at 2 pm, and the data shows that the actual demand for electricity exceeds the supply capacity, and we are in an extremely difficult situation.



However, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hagiuda held an urgent press conference before 3:00 pm and strongly requested power saving, and this usage rate was 92% at 5 pm.



According to government officials, cooperation such as accumulating power saving at home, expanding the use of private power generation in the manufacturing industry, and stopping lighting up seems to have had some effect.



However, I cannot be relieved.



Within the TEPCO jurisdiction, pumped storage power generation, a mechanism that pumps up water to generate electricity, manages to generate supply capacity.



Also, on the night of the 22nd, I managed to survive the pinch by receiving power interchange from five other electric power companies.



Thermal power plants that are out of service take time to recover, and if something goes wrong, power can quickly become tight.

After all power saving is important.


▽ Be sure to turn off the lights and heating in the unused room.


▽ It is also effective to set the temperature to 20 degrees without raising the set temperature too much when turning on the heating.


▽ Open and close the refrigerator less often, and cool hot things before putting them in the refrigerator.


Also,


▽ Unplug a computer or copier that is not used in the office.



There are many aging thermal power plants nationwide, and the power supply cannot be increased immediately.


It seems that the important phase of reducing demand by saving electricity will continue.