June 2010 Regular Press Conference: Honorary Advisor Kawaguchi's Message

• I would like to report that the General Meeting of Shareholders was concluded today without incident. 
• This year's general meeting lasted two hours and 50 minutes, our 13th-longest historically and the first to end in under three hours since 2001, nine years ago. It was attended by 1,440 shareholders, making it our eighth-largest meeting to date. At the meeting, Chubu Electric Power presented an overview of our business in FY2009. 
• A total of ten resolutions were presented, three by the Company and seven by shareholders. After deliberation, the three resolutions proposed by the Company were approved by a majority of the shareholders. 
• In addition to questions about nuclear power, shareholders asked questions about issues of critical concern to management under severe business conditions, including questions on our stance on shareholder return and international businesses. We responded to all questions with sincerity. 
• Chubu Electric Power will utilize the valuable opinions of our customers, shareholders and investors in our future management decision-making, and continue growth as a multi-energy services group.

• As of today, I am stepping down as Chubu Electric Power Chairman of the Board of Directors and assuming the post of  Honorary Advisor.
• I became President in 2001, the year after the start of deregulation of retail electric power, and began making reforms under the banner of "taking the challenge of change." After becoming Chairman in 2006, I continued to work with then-President Mita to steer management at a time of severe change and competition in the energy market.
  The result, I am convinced, is that Chubu Electric Power, as a "multi-energy services group," is now well supplied with the core strength to ride out a difficult management environment and has the employee ambition to open new paths to the future and move forward.
• This time, as I hand-off my management duties to a new administration, I believe that the business environment facing Chubu Electric Power is at a major turning point, and that we need to build a business group that's even stronger than before.
• I have great respect for Teigo Iba, General Manager of the House of Sumitomo (Sumitomo Zaibatsu) during the Meiji Era, who said,
  - "It is not the errors of the young that do the most damage to the advancement of a business, but rather the domination of the old."
  He also said,
  - "A person's most important work is to find a successor and choose the time when that successor takes over."
• To say this in more detail, "The experience of the old is a precious thing: it cannot be learned from any book or purchased with money. But the old must not brandish their experience like a knife. The strength of the young is more important. Young people make mistakes, but every mistake is a valuable experience. The old must give the young a chance and not be afraid that they will make mistakes, nor make the young feel afraid of making mistakes. Instead, the old must help the young to accept challenges. And when the young have matured, it is important that they entrust their duties to the next in line." 
• This is certainly how I feel at this time. For an enterprise to grow perpetually, the young generation has to lead us into new challenges, unafraid of making mistakes.
• I am positive that the new leadership of Chairman Mita and President Mizuno will meet the needs of these greatly changing times and lead Chubu Electric Power to further growth.
• As for me, I will continue to serve as Chairman of the Chubu Economic Federation. COP10 will be held in the Chubu Region this October and there will be a lot of events relating to it that concern the federation.
  I will be working, especially in initiatives of groups like this, in the hope of making a difference for the development of the Chubu Region and the Company.
• Finally, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the customers, shareholders, members of the media and others who have offered so much support heretofore.
  Please continue to advise and support to me as well as the new Chairman and President.

That is all for me.