Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

September 2016 Regular Press Conference : President Katsuno's Message

September 13, 2016
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.

  • Today I will be discussing the following two matters:
    • Entry into household customer-oriented gas retail operation
    • Electrical power demand results for the summer
    • Technofair 2016

Power Outage on September 8th

  • I first would like to refer to the power outage that occurred on September 8th.
  • This incident was caused by a lightning, which struck and consequently shut down the 275,000 V Kota-Hekinan Line.
  • All Hekinan Thermal Power Station units automatically stopped operating as the transmission line shut down.
  • his outage affected a wide area, including Kariya, Okazaki, Hekinan, Anjo, and Nishio Cities of Aichi Prefecture, as well as Gifu, Ogaki, Hashima, Seki, and Mino Cities in Gifu Prefecture. A total of nearly 360,000 households lost power.
  • We apologize for the inconvenience that many customers were forced to experience, including those who endured blackouts and were affected by the reduction in frequency and voltage.

Entry into household customer-oriented gas retail operation

  • I now turn to Chubu Electric Power’s entry into gas retail operations for household customers and such small businesses as restaurants.
  • In accordance with the Revised Gas Business Act, our company today applied to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to register for gas retail operations.

(Gas sales)

  • Chubu Electric Power launched its gas sales in 2001. Sales towards factories have been developing well in particular, and we achieved the 970,000-ton mark in our FY2015 results.
  • Our company is now engaging in the following in regards to gas sales:
    • Selling natural gas by harnessing Chubu Electric Power’s pipelines
    • Selling LNG by using lorries
    • Selling city gas by harnessing Toho Gas Co., Ltd.’s pipelines

     

  • Seeing the full gas retail deregulation starting next April as an excellent opportunity to broaden our share within the market, Chubu Electric Power decided to venture into the gas sales business geared towards households as well as restaurants and other small businesses.

(Sales and security system)

  • I now would like to refer to our sales and security system.
  • Gas retail operators have the obligation, in terms of security, to review the safety of gas stoves, gas-fueled water heaters, and other such gas appliances.
  • Establishing a reliable sales and security system is essential in regards to enabling our customers confidently select the gas that we supply.
  • Chubu Electric Power will make every effort to prepare both sales and security fronts by initiatives such as launching a new Gas Sales Group this October within the Sales Company’s Energy Department. This new group will be devoted to household-oriented sales and security operations of the gas business.

(Sales area/target)

  • Next I turn to topics on the sales area.
  • Chubu Electric Power will be rolling out our operations for Toho Gas service area customers in Aichi, Gifu, and Mie prefectures, the areas in which many city gas users reside in.
  • In the meantime, we plan to look into services for the Tokyo metropolitan area other regions within Chubu.
  • Our sales target is to gain 200,000 contracts in the next five years.

(Gas rate)

  • In regards to rates, the gas wheeling charge is to be approved by the end of this year. We at Chubu Electric Power are accordingly hoping to announce our gas rates in January 2017.
  • We also will be arranging a way to provide customers with a low-cost and readily understandable rate menu.
  • Plans are underway to make use of our well-known HAJIMERU BU television commercial from next month to get across to customers about our foray into household gas retail sales.

(Summary)

  • The business environment is drastically changing along with the development of electric power and gas system reforms. Amid these transformations, as we have been repeatedly informing, Chubu Electric Power plans to expand both our business domain and profitability as well as cater to customer expectations by setting the following as our three sales strategy pillars:
    1. New services for customers in the Chubu area
    2. Business expansion in the Tokyo metropolitan area
    3. Entry into gas sales for household use (gas & power)
  • As a newcomer in the household- and restaurant-oriented gas sales domain, we will make efforts to step up sales and security, and provide customers with satisfying prices and services.
  • As a leading total energy service corporation, Chubu Electric Power will continue working to offer its better-than-expected services to customers ahead of competitors.

Electrical power demand results for the summer

  • I now would like to talk about this summer’s electrical power demand results in the Chubu area.
  • This summer, from July until yesterday (September 12, 2016), the peak load result was 24,330 MW for the maximum three-day average, with a maximum single-point peak load of 24,910 MW recorded on the 8th of August.
  • All of the days in which the maximum three-day average occurred were in early August.
  • We believe this is a result of the increase in cooling operations, prompted both by the fair weather that continued from the beginning of August and the high maximum temperature compared to the average year, which consequently generated continuous heat waves.
  • The maximum temperature in Nagoya this summer was 37.8°C. This was recorded on August 8, the day in which we recorded the maximum single-point peak load.

(Thank you for your energy-saving efforts)

  • As always, we managed to deliver power stably this summer with the continued energy-saving and conservation efforts of people in local communities, including household or business customers and local governments.
  • I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for your cooperation in energy-saving. Thank you very much.

Technofair 2016

  • Before ending my remarks, I would like to talk about Technofair 2016, hosted by our Research & Development Division on September 20 and 21.
  • This is the 24th edition of Technofair, an annual event geared towards customers and other parties involved to offer an understanding of our wide-ranging technological development efforts.
  • Nearly 3,000 relevant parties visit the fair each year.
  • This year’s Technofair set its theme as “A new era of energy: Taking on efforts to achieve security/security and create new value,” showcasing and introducing the latest technological developments.
  • The following will be presented at the specially-prepared venue, designed to share the latest studies on the development of new value:
    • A study to more precisely synthesize data onto actual images. This initiative aims to harness the technology used in the Pokémon Go game, which displays a combination of reality and virtual reality, for training geared towards young employees and also to support efficient power equipment maintenance efforts.
    • A study on a surface polishing technology that renders power equipment exteriors water-repellant. This is intended to reduce the amount of snow accumulating on power equipment.
    • Development of infrared heaters for factory product gateways. This was a request made from customers.

     

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