March 25, 2012
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2012 March 21 - 27 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]
TEPCO plan to impose higher electricity rates is unjust |
Akahata on March 25 editorialized that it is unfair for TEPCO to pass on the cost of the nuclear accident to small-and- medium-sized enterprises and ordinary people.
TEPCO argued that higher electricity rates are called for because the cost of fuel for thermal generation has increased. However, TEPCO is to blame for the nuclear debacle to begin with.
Electricity charges already include a certain amount set aside for profits and for the cost of generating and transmitting electricity. This system secures profits for TEPCO because all costs can be shifted on to electricity charges. It is necessary to examine this system and correct its distorted structure.
What is more, power companies set electricity charges for big users such as large corporations comparatively lower and gain from setting charges for household uses comparatively higher.
The government should ask TEPCO, directly responsible for the nuclear disaster, its shareholders, and major banking institutions, which are big lenders to TEPCO, to take responsibility by sharing the burdens among themselves.
As of the end of March 2011 (end of FY2010), the power industry had a reserve fund of about 5 trillion yen.
This fund has been reserved in the name of promoting nuclear energy and the nuclear fuel cycle program. The Japanese Communist Party has proposed that the fund be transferred to the state and be used for compensation, decontamination, and reactor decommissioning.
Internal reserves of the top 100 corporations which are members of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) promoting nuclear energy policies amount to a staggering 80 trillion yen. The JCP proposes that the JAIF member corporations also contribute to the fund.
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