TOKYO :Japan’s Kansai Electric Power and Tokyo Electric Power reported on Wednesday drops in their first-half net profit of 38 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively, due to losses linked to delays in adjusting power prices to reflect fuel price changes.
Kansai’s net profit fell to 228.8 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the six months ending September from 371 billion yen in the year earlier period, while Tepco’s profit slid to 189.6 billion yen from 350.8 billion yen.
The profit decline was driven by a deterioration in so-called “time-lag effects”, stemming from the delayed fuel price adjustments.
Kansai’s time-lag effects shifted to a 9 billion yen loss in the first-half from a 157 billion yen gain a year earlier, while Tepco saw a time-lag loss of 31 billion yen, compared to a 168 billion yen profit a year earlier.
Kansai’s net profit fell despite a rise in nuclear power utilisation to 94.4 per cent in the first half from 78.3 per cent a year earlier.
The company maintained its net profit forecast of 260 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2025 and its April estimate of 80 per cent nuclear power utilization, despite a recent shutdown at its Mihama plant due to holes in a pipeline.
“We can’t say when the reactor will be back online,” Keisuke Shimizu, a Kansai general manager, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Tepco estimates that restarting its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in northern Japan would boost annual profits by around 100 billion yen, but timing remains uncertain.
The national nuclear regulator imposed an operational ban on the plan in 2021 due to safety breaches but lifted it last December, allowing Tepco to work towards gaining local permission to restart.
The company withheld an annual profit forecast due to uncertainty around the restart timing.
“We are still working to reassure local communities about safety