Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

May 2018 Regular Press Conference : President Katsuno's Message

May 29, 2018
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.

  • First of all, I am taking the Nagoya Office’s inappropriate transmission line work calculations seriously, the news of which was announced some days ago. This is a major compliance issue that could result in losing customer trust.
  • I take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt apologies for the trouble and concern that customers and relevant parties had to suffer.
  • Today I will be discussing the following matters:
    • Online service KatEne’s membership reaches two million
    • Decommissioning of Owase-Mita Thermal Power Station Units 1 and 3
    • Electricity supply and demand outlook of this summer

Online service KatEne’s membership reaches two million

  • I would like to talk about our household customer online service, KatEne, reaching two million in its membership.
  • Since its launch in March 2015, our household customer online service KatEne has been offering services that contribute to better customer satisfaction by such efforts as making clients’ energy consumption visible, providing energy-saving content, and amplifying our point service.
  • Now our KatEne membership has managed to reach two million.
  • KatEne is a crucial interface serving between Chubu Electric Power and customers. The more the membership, the more importance the service’s role takes on.
  • Our hope is to encourage even more customers to use the service and to further strengthen the relationship between us and our clients through KatEne. To that end, in addition to broadening the range of online content, it is important to solve troubles in daily life or provide services that offer customers a more comfortable, convenient, and secure experience.
  • We plan to deliver such services by combining information and communications technology (ICT), the Internet of Things (IoT), and other advanced technology with strengths we fostered through energy businesses thus far, including our relationship of trust with customers and our solid technological and proposal skills.
  • A concrete effort relevant to this is KatEne Connect, our household service business brand we introduced today.
  • Under the concept “A perfect future for your home,” we will leverage ICT and IoT to take a phased approach in beefing up services geared to enabling customers achieve a more comfortable, convenient, and secure life.
  • We have established growth areas for services that contribute to the lives of household customers, as well as to solving such social issues as Japan's declining birthrate and aging population or disaster and crime prevention. The services will be nurtured accordingly into a core earnings source trailing electricity and gas sales.

Decommissioning of Owase-Mita Thermal Power Station Units 1 and 3

  • I now would like to talk about the decommissioning of Owase-Mita Thermal Power Station Units 1 and 3.
  • The station’s Units 1 and 3 are scheduled to undergo decommissioning by the end of this fiscal year. Since first going online in July 1964, the units have played important roles in demand for power during Japan’s high economic growth period.
  • The units have been supporting demand from the Chubu area as a resource to cope with peak-load demands. But we decided the decommissioning project because, in light of Nishi-Nagoya Thermal Power Station Group No. 7’s start of operations and other factors, the units are no longer expected to be used to cater to demands.
  • Owase-Mita Thermal Power Station’s over five decades of safe operations owe to the understanding and cooperation of Owase City residents and relevant parties. I take this opportunity to extend a deep gratitude to them.
  • Regarding land use following the units’ decommissioning, on May 11, Owase City made an offer to engage in negotiations by setting the station grounds as a potential site for constructions of an amalgamated waste-processing facility planned by five eastern-Mie cities (Higashi-Kishu) and towns including Owase City.
  • Responding to this offer, we embarked upon negotiations. Further, on May 25 we signed an Agreement on Discussions for the Use of Owase-Mita Thermal Power Station Sites with Owase City, deciding to collaborate with the City in considering specific ways for using the station’s sites.
  • While paying careful attention to the opinions of Owase and other local residents, we hope work together with Owase City to review ways that can revitalize the region.
  • While decommissioning now-inefficient thermal power stations, we are working in a well-planned manner to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission or to construct state-of-the-art thermal power stations that offer high efficiency and low environmental load.
  • With the start of this fiscal year, we began to construct Taketoyo Thermal Power Station Unit 5, a coal-fired thermal power plant, and Yokkaichi Thermal Power Station Biomass Power Generation Facility, which is a woody biomass fuel-fired thermal power plant.
  • Coal-fired power excels in terms of its stability in procurement and cost efficiency. This can be seen by how the Fifth Basic Energy Plan positions it an energy source to leverage as critical base load power while lowering environmental load.
  • Moreover, biomass power generation is a method by which renewable energy can be produced stably under a steady output without any influence of the weather, wind, or other natural conditions.
  • Taketoyo Unit 5 is to adopt highly efficient coal-fueled power generation facilities that boast Japan's highest standard of thermal efficiency and co-fire woody biomass fuel, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emission. The unit is planned to have a generation capacity of 1.07 million kW, with operations scheduled to start in March 2022.
  • With a generation capacity of 49 thousand kW, Yokkaichi Biomass Power Generation Facility is planned to start operating in April 2020 as our first single-fuel power generation facility powered by woody biomass fuel.
  • Based on continued understanding and cooperation from local residents and relevant municipalities, we will steadfastly carry forward the construction of both plants.
  • Setting environmental protection initiatives including measures against global warming as a crucial management issue, we will make efforts to provide environmentally-friendly and high-quality energy in a safe, reasonable and stable manner.

Electricity supply and demand outlook of this summer

  • The final topic I would like to talk about is this summer’s power supply and demand outlook in the Chubu area.
  • We are expecting the maximum electric power over July and August (average electric power over a maximum of three days) to reach 24.63 million kW. In terms of the supply-demand balance, prospects of securing stable electricity supply appear to be promising for this summer again.
  • To make sure that no issues occur on our power supply system, we will work to stably supply electricity to customers by completing all general thermal power station inspections before the summer season and reliably maintaining transmission/conversion facilities.
  • The national government set forth a policy stating that no request for special energy conservation efforts is needed for this summer, just as last year. In keeping with this governmental policy, we will not issue any special energy conservation requests.
  • But we still look forward to seeing customers maintain their previous energy conservation/saving efforts for the sake of effectively harnessing energy and limiting carbon dioxide emissions.
  • Our website and our KatEne website provide specific examples. We encourage you to take a look. Thank you.

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