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Kyushu Electric calls on customers to conserve power

18 Comments

Kyushu Electric Power Co on Friday called on households and businesses in its service area to conserve power as much as possible in an attempt to reduce electricity demand by 5% this summer.

KEPCO President Michiaki Uriu said the utility does not plan to restart any of its six nuclear power reactors that it has put into cold shutdown, Sankei Shimbun reported. Uriu said that this will result in nearly zero surplus power and called on residents to conserve electricity where possible.

To help protect against power shortages, the company has instituted stricter guidelines for granting discounts to low-consumption users. The cutoff will now be 300 kW as opposed to 500 kW.

KEPCO, however, has said it is not considering raising standard electricity rates, even though power costs have risen since the company began relying more heavily on thermal energy sources.

Uriu said if that if KEPCO doesn't bring the nuclear reactors online again in the future, those costs may be passed on to consumers.

During the winter, KEPCO made a similar request to its customers to cut back on power usage from Dec 1 to March 30 during the peak periods of 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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18 Comments
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Unplug the vending machines lining my street. My Air Con stays on.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Absolutely, shut down all the automats and vending machines as well as all the unnecessary garish lighting in buildings and public places, mandate energy efficiency in all sectors, recycle bottles and ban all cans and the country can manage without nuclear reactors.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

And Japan is too poor to make more electricity? Yeah, let's go back to Stone Age! If one company can't meet the demand, this system should be rethought first!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

recycle bottles and ban all cans and the country can manage without nuclear reactors.

Ban cans? So what do you propose be used instead? PET bottles which are made with petroleum products? At least the "cans" are recycled and bottles are cost prohibitive in the long run.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Well, that was a cold winter, but we managed it on one small paraffin/kerosene heater in the evenings and both of us are still alive. Kept the heating bill down to about 1,500 yen a month.

In the summer the wife does not like air conditioning. If she comes back and finds I have switched it on she'll run to switch it off and then throw open the windows bang, bang, bang, with great fanfare.

It is possible to go back and live like countless generations before us, but it takes a bit of self-discipline. In the countryside the air is cleaner, greener and fresher, even if the day is horribly humid, and older houses were built for coolness in the summer, with overhanging eaves.

Sadly most modern houses are still being built squashed together, on the assumption that air-conditioning will cool the interiors. Time for architects to learn something from the past, spread out the housing, and add some shade. How about movable winter cladding that can be lifted up/out to become awnings in the summer, for example, as part of the total renewable energy package?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I hate air conditioning. Never use it. I enjoy my roof garden all year long.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Can I interest you in a nice, energy efficient PEM fuel cell?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Switch off all air conditioning and replace it with ventilators. Problem solved.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I hear we Japan has enough electricity supply to go around even with nuclear reactors whitched off! The scare mongering about electricity shortages is due to money greedy pro-nukes eager to swtich on NPPs.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Turn off the vending machines at night or that aren't used, insist that grocery stores install closed freezers. Done and done. You could go further will insisting that any air con place has their doors closed and that pachinko lights are halved. That got us to 25% savings me thinks.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I call on Kyushu Power to make use of past profits to encourage the Diet to pass laws for green roofing and the subsidization of solar panels which because of over supply are at a 2 year low!!!!!!!!!!!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When I walk into the college classroom some student has often already turned the heating up to 30 in the winter, and down to 18 in the summer, despite big stickers pleading for cooperation.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Isn't this the same company who had their staff write protest letters or something last year?? And then got caught for doing it??

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

When I walk into the college classroom some student has often already turned the heating up to 30 in the winter, and down to 18 in the summer, despite big stickers pleading for cooperation.

It's because of the stupid idea that by turning the temp up or down the air is colder or warmer. Point is saving energy takes education as well, particularly with regards to ac and heater use.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

One of my unis has actually put locks on the AC. Not impressed with this at all. How about motion sensor lights? Oh right, the classes with j profs would go out with all the sleeping students and the prof at his desk reading from his notes....

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

At Osaka Energy Strategy Council on April 24th, KEPCO clearly stated that restarting Oi NPPs has nothing to do with power supply and demand. They said they want to restart the NPPs not because we will have shortage of power but because they would go bankrupt without NPPs.(nearly a half of their total net assets are from NPP business)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqjuay_20120503ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_news

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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