Regular Press Conference for May 2010

• At Chubu Electric, we recognize global environmental conservation as a priority management issue, and are undertaking diverse initiatives to protect the global environment.
  We especially feel strongly about the need to reduce CO₂ emissions in order to prevent global warming, and endeavor to do all that we can to address the issue from various standpoints.
  For example, we strive to:
  - Act on our own initiative as a producer and supplier of electricity;
  - Satisfy customer requirements by proposing services that contribute to environmental conservation; and
  - Fulfill our social responsibility as a good corporate citizen in cooperation with individuals, organizations and local communities. 
• First of all, in regard to our first policy of "acting on our own initiatives as a producer and supplier of electricity," we aggressively promote nuclear power generation as a viable solution to preventing global warming and to securing a stable supply of energy.
• In the area of renewable energies, we are pushing forward various R&D initiatives with our eyes on the future. These initiatives are presented in Reference 1 (Chubu Electric's New Initiatives for a Low-carbon Society).
• However, in order to further spread the use of renewable energies hereafter, I believe it is necessary to thoroughly debate and examine the relevance of such issues as the anticipated increase in public financial burden and impacts on the economy, and to widely obtain public understanding of them. 

Reference

• Press Release "Chubu Electric's New Initiatives for a Low-carbon Society"

• Next, I wish to introduce an initiative relating to our second policy of "satisfying customer requirements by proposing services that contribute to environmental conservation."
• Environmental awareness is steadily increasing among our customers, as is evident in the rapid dissemination of solar power generation in general households.
• In response to this trend, we are pursuing various survey and research projects so that we may propose measures for even more efficient usage of energy to our customers.
• These projects include the research project on next-generation homes and the new project in Toyota City, as presented in Reference 1 (Chubu Electric's New Initiatives for a Low-carbon Society).
• Here, I would like to introduce a new initiative that we will be carrying out in the near future: a field test on remote meter reading using a new type of electricity meter.
• The field test will commence in April 2011 and will span a period of one year. We will install a total of some 1,500 new meters equipped with a communication function in homes in Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture, to test the remote meter-reading function and other functions of the new meter.
• The main focus of the test will be on verifying the remote meter-reading function of the new meter and the "visualization" effects of electricity usage.
• To verify these "visualization" effects, information on our customers' electricity usage that we obtain from remote meter reading will be fed back to our customers in detail via the Internet.
  Then, we will survey changes in those customers' electricity usage patterns as a result of the provided information, and examine the types of information that would help customers use electricity more efficiently.
• Based on the results of the field test, we will further our research anddevelopment of the new meter and explore its commercial viability.

Reference

• Press Release "Field Test on Remote Meter Reading Using a New Type of Electricity Meter"

• Now I would like to move on to initiatives under our third policy of "fulfilling our social responsibility as a good corporate citizen in cooperation with individuals, organizations and local communities."
• As a corporate citizen, we have consistently implemented a variety of community-based activities in cooperation with various citizens' groups and local residents, such as commemorative day tree-planting activities and "Chuden Eco Circle" activities.
• Just this past May 1, a date we specified as "Chubu Electric Environment Day," we held a commemoration tree-planting event with the cooperation of Nagoya Grampus Eight Inc., a football team that is actively involved in promoting hometown activities.
  We hope to hold a tree-planting event again in Nagoya City sometime in December or beyond, with the participation of 200 to 300 citizens, including Nagoya Grampus players and supporters.
• I would also like to introduce the "Morino Chonai-kai" forest-thinning initiative in the Chubu region, which we are newly promoting as a corporate citizen.
  
• The "Morino Chonai-kai" is an initiative that promotes forest thinning by encouraging companies to use paper made from thinned trees. It provides an effortless way to contribute to environmental conservation in daily business activities.
  The environmental NPO "Office Chonai-kai" launched this initiative mainly targeting companies in Tokyo. Subsequently, it established additional offices in such areas as Osaka and Kanagawa, and is widely spreading its activities throughout Japan.
• Here is how the system works: companies who support forest thinning and approve of the initiative substitute their regularly used printing paper with printing paper that contributes to forest thinning. A "forest-thinning promotion fee" of 15 yen per kilogram is added to the price of the paper, and is applied in total to forest development activities.
• Supporting companies, for their part, may affix a designated logomark to publications printed on said printing paper as a symbol of their contribution to the environment.
• Chubu Electric will function as a secretariat of activities in the Chubu region. Together with environmental NPO "Office Chonai-kai," we will cultivate new supporting companies, manage forest-thinning promotion fees, and provide reports of the activities.
  
• Today, forest thinning is not adequately performed in Japan's forests due to a decline in the use of wood materials and a downturn in the forestry industry. Consequently, there is increasing concern about the deterioration of forest functions.
• We believe that fostering abundant forests and restoring their wonderful functions is indispensable to developing "environments that promise sustainable development."
  Based on this belief, we ask for the cooperation of even larger numbers of local supporting companies as we press on with the "Morino Chonai-kai" initiative in the Chubu region.

• With COP10 CBD scheduled to be held in Nagoya in six months' time, the public and private sectors are making concerted efforts to support this significant event under the leadership of the COP10 CBD Promotion Committee. Conservation of biodiversity is extremely important to global warming prevention, as well as to the future of the global environment.
• Chubu Electric will provide full support of this significant international conference as a member of the local community, through partnership initiatives and other activities.

• We will continue to explore how best we may contribute to realizing a low-carbon society from various standpoints: as a supplier of electricity, as a customer-oriented company, and as a corporate member of society.
  At the same time, we will do our utmost to protect the environment and enrich the lives of our customers and local communities.
• We are convinced that the growth of such efforts will eventually allow us to realize a low-carbon society and fulfill our responsibility to the next generation.

This concludes my remarks for today.