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Japan Power Prices Rise to 2-Year High on Tokyo Heat (Update1)
2010-07-21 03:51:17.526 GMT
(Updates with Tokyo's temperature today in third paragraph.)
By Shigeru Sato and Michio Nakayama
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese power prices for delivery
during peak hours rose to their highest in almost two years as a
heat wave continued, boosting demand from Tokyo Electric Power
Co. to cool offices and homes.
Peak-load power prices increased to an average of 18.41 yen
($0.21) per kilowatt hour for delivery today on the Japan
Electric Power Exchange, up 1.47 yen from yesterday, according
to data compiled by the bourse. That's the highest since Sept.
14, 2008, when the average price was 19.22 yen, according to the
exchange's website.
A narrow band of strong winds in the atmosphere that move
from west to east, known as the jet stream, is meandering in an
unusual pattern this year and causing heat waves, Hisashi
Nakamura, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Tokyo,
said last week. The temperature in Tokyo's Otemachi financial
district reached 35.9 degrees Celsius (96.6 Fahrenheit) at 12:16
p.m. local time, the highest this year, according to the Japan
Meteorological Agency.
"Sweltering days and nights will continue in town for the
coming days, keeping air-conditioners turned on all the time to
survive in this heat," said Hirofumi Kawachi, a senior energy
analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in Tokyo. "Peak-load
prices will probably stay near 20 yen this week."
Tokyo Electric, supplying more than 28 million customers in
the capital and surrounding prefectures, expects peak intraday
demand in the Tokyo area to reach 59,000 megawatts today, the
highest this year, exceeding yesterday's high of 57,260
megawatts, spokesman Ryo Shimizu, said by telephone.
Asia's largest utility recorded its highest intraday demand
of 64,300 megawatts on July 24, 2001. The peak-load time is
between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the utility's Website.
An increase of 1 degree in the early afternoon in summer
could bolster power demand in Tokyo by as much as 1,700
megawatts, or the equivalent of what 340,000 homes in the city
would need, Shimizu said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top Japan stories: TOP JN <GO>
Tokyo Electric's environmental, social and governance analysis:
9501 JT <Equity> FA ESG <GO>
Japan power-market stories: TNI JAPAN PWRMARKET <GO>
--Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Ryan Woo.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3294 or
ssato10@bloomberg.net;
Michio Nakayama in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2177 or
mnakayama4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net;
Clyde Russell at +65-6311-2423 or
crussell7@bloomberg.net.
