Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- International Comparisons of Electricity Regulation
- 1 Introduction: International comparisons of electricity regulation
- 2 Regulation, public ownership and privatisation of the English electricity industry
- 3 How should it be done? Electricity regulation in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile
- 4 From club-regulation to market competition in the Scandinavian electricity supply industry
- 5 Competition and institutional change in U.S. electric power regulation
- 6 The Japanese electric utility industry
- 7 Regulation of the market for electricity in the Federal Republic of Germany
- 8 The evolution of New Zealand's electricity supply structure
- 9 Regulation of electric power in Canada
- 10 The French electricity industry
- 11 The Yugoslav electric power industry
- Index
6 - The Japanese electric utility industry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- International Comparisons of Electricity Regulation
- 1 Introduction: International comparisons of electricity regulation
- 2 Regulation, public ownership and privatisation of the English electricity industry
- 3 How should it be done? Electricity regulation in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile
- 4 From club-regulation to market competition in the Scandinavian electricity supply industry
- 5 Competition and institutional change in U.S. electric power regulation
- 6 The Japanese electric utility industry
- 7 Regulation of the market for electricity in the Federal Republic of Germany
- 8 The evolution of New Zealand's electricity supply structure
- 9 Regulation of electric power in Canada
- 10 The French electricity industry
- 11 The Yugoslav electric power industry
- Index
Summary
A few small and undercapitalized private firms gave birth to Japan's electric utility industry a little more than a century ago. Although these companies initially supplied only lighting services to a few customers, the industry today has over 142,000 MW of generating capacity and is projected to supply Japan with nearly 228 GW (billion watts) of capacity in fiscal 2000.
Japan's ten privately owned electric companies enjoy a net worth of $924 billion, relative freedom from regulation, and far-reaching, firm support from the government. However, today's industry faces the tightest supply-demand gap in recent memory and must develop 15,000 MW of new generating capacity each year, just to meet demand. This situation has been characterized as “urgent” in a country that imports over 80% of its energy requirements. Coupled with competition from other energy suppliers and public opposition to nuclear power, Japan's electric utilities are facing new and growing challenges.
The industry consolidates: 1880 to World War II
When Ichisuke Fujioka first proposed establishing an electric power company in the early 1880s, he found little financial backing. Because the government was concentrating on increasing industrial production, it was short on capital; it thus expected entrepreneurs to finance new ventures. Private businessmen, however, were reluctant to invest in what they considered to be a novelty. But with the help of senior government official Yasuzo Yamao, Fujioka found 64 aristocrats, businessmen with political affiliations, and wealthy merchants to invest in his company, Tokyo Electric Light Company (TELC-Tokyo Dento). TELC opened its doors for business in 1883 with initial capital of 200,000 yen (Japan Electric Power Information Center [JEPIC], 1988, p. 1).
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- International Comparisons of Electricity Regulation , pp. 231 - 276Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996
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