The Japanese government yesterday approved a long-sought after plan to open up its power industry after the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant renewed calls for more competition in the sector.
The reforms, which still need approval from parliament, would be the first major overhaul of Japan’s power industry since the early 1950s, when regional utilities were established across the nation.
Since then, the sector has been effectively monopolized by 10 regional firms engaged in power generation, distribution and retail.
The Japanese Cabinet has approved a scheme presented by an expert panel which called for the utilities to be split among their various business lines, with all restrictions on pricing to be eliminated by 2018 at the earliest.
Opening up Japan’s power grid to new competition would ultimately benefit industrial and individual consumers, Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi said.
“These reforms concern the whole industry, ranging from upstream procurement and power generation to downstream retail and consumption,” he said.
“The demand side will have more options, which will lead to lower electricity prices,” he was quoted by Japanese media as saying.
The country has been hit by soaring energy import costs since shutting down its nuclear reactors after the tsunami-earthquake crisis two years ago and turning to pricy fossil fuel alternatives.
Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Co was forced to raise its electricity rates for millions of customers to help meet massive compensation and clean-up costs.
Separately, Japan is preparing to create the world’s first futures trading contract for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a bid to stabilize the commodity’s price as demand soars, a ministry official said yesterday.
Resource-poor Japan and South Korea are the world’s two top buyers of LNG, with East Asia accounting for about 60 percent of global demand, but the region also tends to pay higher prices with shipping costs expensive and rates varying from place to place.
In Asia, the price for LNG is index-linked to oil, which means that Asian buyers tend to pay far more than those in North America, where price is determined on the basis of supply and demand.
Big price differences for LNG — natural gas that is temporarily liquefied for easier storage and transportation — underscored the need for its own trading contract, the official said, adding that Tokyo wants to make the contract a reality within two years.
“We want to create a system that serves as a new indicator — reflecting the true supply and demand conditions of LNG — and to stabilize its price,” the official said.
The contract would be traded at the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, with Japan saying it hopes to encourage gas users in South Korea and Taiwan to take part in the market, and later, US gas suppliers.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
STABLE RESULTS: Despite June’s lower consolidated revenue, second-quarter sales still reached a record high, driven by demand for chips for AI applications Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$263.71 billion (US$9.02 billion) for last month, its second-lowest monthly result this year. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that its revenue last month only fared better than the NT$260.01 billion posted in February. Last month’s figure rose 26.9 percent from a year earlier, but slumped 17.7 percent from May, the company said. However, second-quarter revenue reached NT$933.8 billion, a record high for a single quarter, company data showed. The figure represented growth of 11.26 percent from the first quarter and 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Previously, TSMC said that
RSS