June 2016 Regular Press Conference : President Katsuno's Message

• I begin with the initiatives undertaken by Chubu Electric Power Group’s Diamond Power Corporation.
• As I have repeatedly stated, the large market size of the Tokyo metropolitan area and its high potentials for growth make expanding our operations in the region one of our key sales strategies.
• Diamond Power Corporation is a first-ever Power Producer and Supplier (PPS), mainly operating in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Chubu Electric Power acquired their shares in October 2013.
• The acquisition was intended to secure a customer base and the power source needed to sell electric power in the greater Tokyo area.

(Diamond Power’s sales strategy)

• Diamond Power Corporation operates predominantly in Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures with the following three approaches:
  • Selling electric power primarily to office buildings, commercial institutions, and schools under their own company brand
  • Supplying wholesale electric power to partner institutions, such as city gas companies
  • Supplying wholesale electric power to Chubu Electric Power Group member Cenergy Co.

   

• Diamond Power Corporation serves a key role in Chubu Electric Power Group’s sales strategy for the Tokyo metropolitan area. Their electric power sales in the region added up to nearly 700 million kWh in the previous fiscal year.

(Suzukawa Energy Center)

• In the meantime, securing reasonable and stable power becomes critical in efforts to further expand our operations in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures.
• In September 2013, Chubu Electric Power launched Suzukawa Energy Center Ltd. in partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.
• Suzukawa Energy Center Ltd. is currently erecting a 100 thousand kW coal-fired thermal power station within a plant that Nippon Paper Industries owns in Fuji City, Shizuoka.
• Plans are underway for Diamond Power Corporation to fully acquire the electricity produced at this plant, and in turn leverage it as power for the Tokyo metropolitan area.
• Commissioning of the plant began on May 18, with sights set to commence commercial operations this September.
• The successful launch of commissioning was made possible by the understanding and cooperation granted from local residents and relevant parties. I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude.

(Observation tour of Suzukawa Energy Center)

• We are hosting an observation tour of Suzukawa Energy Center Ltd. on July 13.
• Members of the press are invited to collect information on the establishment’s turbine generator and main control room along with its storage silo and transportation conveyor for coal, all of which are features distinctive of coal-fired plants. We encourage you to join the tour.

• I would now like to talk about the appointments of officers effective July 1st.
• Officer appointments this fiscal year involved 1,796 people, a scale comparable to last year. This was a result of optimizing the match between people and their respective positions in an effort to adapt to the drastic changes observed in the electricity business environment.
• What characterizes these new appointments is the extensive amount of temporary transfers ordered to JERA Co., Inc. and its affiliated companies, as well as the significant increase of female employees being promoted to officers.

(Temporary transfer to JERA)

• Regarding JERA, 133 personnel will be temporarily transferred anew to the company and its affiliated companies in conjunction with the July 1 handing-over of our energy infrastructure, overseas power generation, and fuel businesses to JERA.
• With this appointment, Chubu Electric Power members on temporary transfer would add up to 218.
• We expect the success of these members to allow for JERA to, as a global energy corporation capable of competing on par with competitors within the international energy market, provide customers with a stable supply of globally competitive energy.

(Appointment of female employees to officers)

• I now turn to the appointment of female employees to officers.
• We have freshly assigned 21 female employees as section chief-class officers.
• This is near twice the number compared to last fiscal year, and women serving as officers in our company accordingly reached a record 133 members.
• The number of women appointed as section manager-class officers also have significantly increased to six from last fiscal year’s one promotion.
• Chubu Electric Power has been bolstering its training for women and introducing a more flexible working system. Our assumption is that these efforts boosted the morale of female employees and reshaped their mindset towards work, thereby scaling up the number of such members qualified to serve as an officer.

(Summary)

• Business conditions around Chubu Electric Power remain challenging with such examples as the electric power and gas system reform, but by embracing our new personnel arrangements, we will unite as a company under my lead and move forward.

(8% reserve margin expected to be secured)

• Finally, regarding this summer’s power supply and demand outlook in the Chubu area, we are expecting the maximum electric power over July and August to reach 24.28 million kW.
• We plan to offer the summer supply-demand balance based on an assessment that will be released tomorrow from the Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators; nonetheless, prospects of securing the 8% reserve margin, i.e. the benchmark for stable electricity supply, appear to be promising.

(Recommending energy-saving efforts)

• Given the improvement observed nationwide in power supplies, the national government set forth a policy stating that no request for special energy conservation efforts is needed for this summer.
• In keeping with the governmental policy, Chubu Electric Power will not issue any energy conservation requests this summer, but we still look forward to seeing customers maintain their previous energy conservation/saving efforts for the sake of effectively harnessing energy and limiting CO2 emissions.
• Our customer-oriented website, meter reading slip notifying electricity usage amounts, and our KatEne website all provide advice that is instrumental in efforts to save energy.
• We encourage customers to take advantage of the information on energy-saving initiatives and maintain their conservation efforts.

(Inspection and maintenance of power generation/transmission and distribution facilities)

• Meanwhile, power supplies continue to largely depend on thermal power generation.
• To make sure that no issues occur on our power supply mechanism, Chubu Electric Power will work to stably supply electricity to customers by completing all pre-summer general thermal power station inspections by the end of June, and, from the next month and onwards, conducting reliable operations and daily-basis maintenance for both transmission/conversion facilities and thermal/hydroelectric power stations.