information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
9 Novembre 2013
November 9, 2013
Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to introduce a holding company structure to enhance efficiency, help new entrants to the power industry and quell criticism over its handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, sources said.
TEPCO’s plan, which could take effect as early as fiscal 2016, would put separate companies in charge of thermal power generation, the power grid and retailing under the umbrella of a holding company.
The realignment could help to push through government plans to separate power generation and transmission operations at electricity companies that currently hold virtual regional monopolies. Spin-offs of power transmission and distribution functions would facilitate the use of the power grid by new companies to the market.
The government hopes to realize these changes from fiscal 2018 to 2020 as a key component of power industry reforms.
TEPCO also plans to eliminate its 10 branch offices to streamline the current three-tier hierarchy comprising a head office, branch offices and service centers, the sources said.
Sections at the head office, including the corporate affairs, accounting and human resources departments, will be integrated and may be assigned to take orders from other companies, the sources said.
Further cost cuts will be pursued by keeping meticulous records of fuel and other expenses on a unit-by-unit basis at TEPCO’s power stations.
TEPCO is rushing to realign itself because the radioactive water crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has fueled calls for an overhaul of the utility’s corporate structure.
Criticism is intensifying that TEPCO is banking on a government bailout. The government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are discussing plans to use public funds to shoulder part of the post-disaster cleanup expenses at and around the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The utility apparently hopes to win public understanding for receiving taxpayer money by touting its willingness to cooperate in power industry reforms.
TEPCO first announced plans to introduce a holding company structure in November 2012. The utility spun off three of its arms into financially autonomous “in-house companies” in April. It hopes to introduce the new corporate structure once the Electricity Business Law is amended next year at the earliest, the sources said.
An LDP panel recommended the use of government money to shoulder part of the enormous costs for the Fukushima cleanup, including decontamination and building intermediate storage facilities for radioactive debris. It also proposed that TEPCO’s arm in charge of decommissioning nuclear reactors and dealing with radioactive water leaks be spun off either into an in-house company, separate company or government-affiliated institution.
For now, TEPCO plans to spin off its nuclear reactor decommissioning operations only into a dedicated in-house company.
“I doubt that a pared-down company would be able to keep doing such demanding work for the coming four decades,” TEPCO President Naomi Hirose said about the decommissioning process.
However, TEPCO has yet to decide what to do with its nuclear power arm and nuclear reactor decommissioning arm under the proposed holding company structure.
Separating the nuclear reactor decommissioning arm could lead to an easier government injection of public funds and a more radical overhaul of TEPCO’s corporate structure.
(This article was written by Takashi Ebuchi and Mari Fujisaki.)
November 8, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131108p2a00m0na016000c.html
To cut costs and boost its competitive edge, the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has begun deliberations toward establishing a holding company system as early as fiscal 2016.
Subsidiary companies dedicated to fuel and thermal power generation, power distribution and transmission, and retail, respectively, will be established under the holding company, in alignment with plans to separate power production from power distribution and transmission as part of electricity system reforms.
The plans, to which financial institutions that have loaned funds to TEPCO have expressed caution, will be incorporated into the company's comprehensive special business plan set to be revised before the end of the year.
In preparation for the move, in April, TEPCO introduced an in-house company system to foster further independent decision-making by reorganizing the company into three separate divisions and an additional section dedicated to human resources and other head office functions.
Under the new proposed plan, the three divisions will become three separate subsidiaries under the umbrella of the head office section, which will become the holding company. The fuel and thermal power generation company will sell electricity to businesses that will buy it for high prices. Meanwhile, the retail subsidiary will buy from power generation firms that offer low prices. Such measures carry the possibility of further streamlining TEPCO operations. The fate of a division dedicated to nuclear reactors and decommissioning will be deliberated at a later time.
Because the Electricity Business Act does not permit major utilities to split off into separate companies, TEPCO must wait for the passage and implementation of an electricity business law amendment in the ordinary session of the Diet next year. This would push back the company spin-offs to fiscal 2016 or 2017. If the plan pans out, it will precede the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's plan to carry out the division of power generation and distribution between fiscal 2018 and 2020.
Even if TEPCO does separate its power generation functions from its power distribution and transmission functions, if they both remain under the umbrella of a TEPCO holding company, there is no guarantee that complete neutrality of the distribution and transmission subsidiary will be maintained. Financial institutions, in addition, are wary of TEPCO's plans to establish a holding company because of the chance that the treatment of collateral for loans to the company will change.
"We still can't predict if the loans will be repaid," said one executive of a financial firm.
There also remains the possibility that demands to change the company's reorganization method and timing will arise.
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