TEPCO loses customers

December 7, 2012

TEPCO loses 3,350 corporate contracts after rate hike

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121207p2a00m0na019000c.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, said Dec. 6 it has lost 3,350 corporate contracts in the six months since it raised corporate electricity rates in April this year.

TEPCO said the loss translates into 200,000 kilowatts on a contract electric power basis. Many of the corporate customers are small-scale supermarkets and building owners and are believed to have switched to different utilities.

TEPCO Vice President Hiroshi Yamaguchi revealed the numbers during a regular press conference of the Federation of Electric Power Companies.

TEPCO and other major power companies have raised corporate and household electricity rates since April, citing poor business conditions due to rising fuel costs to make up for the loss of atomic power generation in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdowns.

TEPCO says it has lost 15,450 corporate contracts (4.2 million kilowatts) over a 12-year-period through March this year. The loss of the 3,350 corporate contracts through Oct. 1 this year highlights an acceleration of firms quitting TEPCO.

However, TEPCO still holds more than 2 million corporate contracts. Yamaguchi told reporters, "There is no surprising change in the volume of contractual electricity," suggesting the effects of declining revenue are limited.