Fears are growing daily of power shortages this summer and coming winter. A dependable supply of electricity is vital for people’s lives and economic activities.

This calls for effective measures to secure supplies and curb peak demand to avert large-scale outages.

Government projections of supply and demand in different regions point to tightened reserve margins in the months ahead.

If Japan is hit by a “once-in-a-decade” kind of blisteringly hot day in July, the reserve margins in three regions served respectively by the Tohoku, Tokyo and Chubu electric power companies will fall to around 3 percent. This means available excess capacity will amount to 3 percent of expected peak demand, a level said to be the minimum required to secure a stable power supply.

Similarly, if the nation is hit by a “once-in-a-decade” kind of freezing day in January or February next year, the expected peak demand will surpass the maximum available supply in the region served by Tokyo Electric Power Co. The reserve margins in the Chubu and western Japan regions to Kyushu will fall below the crucial 3 percent mark.

To ride out the predicted power crises, the government hammered out a set of measures concerning both supply and demand. On the supply side, power sources reserved for emergencies, such as idled thermal power plants, would be restarted in tandem with efforts to secure sufficient fuel supplies.

On the demand side, the government will ask households and businesses across the nation to be sparing in electricity use, marking the first time in seven years to make such a request. It has announced power-saving steps for households such as recommended temperature settings.

The government also says it will issue a power crunch alert the day before and earlier than it previously did. It will prepare emergency response plans to restrict power consumption by large business consumers and schedule power outages.

The government should keep one thing in mind when it draws up its policy efforts. A strategy focused on bolstering capacity to meet temporary peak demand could unnecessarily ramp up costs for society as a whole. Greater efforts are required to lower peak demand, but action on that front is lagging behind.

This can be done by promoting types of rate plans and utility contracts designed to curb consumption during peak times, which would negate the need to resort to strong action.

Less than 20 percent of electricity retailers offer programs that charge customers different rates based on times energy is used or provide incentives for power saving, according to the industry ministry. Utilities should undertake an industry-wide efforts to share related expertise, develop appropriate systems and communicate related information to businesses and households.

Smart meters that allow utilities to remotely control the upper limits of consumption by individual households are coming into practice use. These devices should prove effective in helping to achieve the policy goal.

Reserve margins are likely to remain tight for the time being. This is mainly because utilities are scrapping or mothballing thermal power plants where operation rates have fallen due to expanded use of renewable energy sources as part of efforts to lower the nation’s carbon footprint.

The government should take further steps to expand renewable power generation and develop grids that enable utilities serving different regions to help each other out by supplying power and promote the use of storage batteries.

Reforming the power retail market would encourage suppliers to maintain appropriate reserve margins.

Calls are being made to restart idled nuclear reactors to deal with a possible power crunch. But reactors that are still offline have yet to receive safety clearance from the Nuclear Regulation Authority. This is because mandatory safety work has not been completed. It is unreasonable to bank on such reactors as power sources for next winter.

It should not be forgotten that securing safety is a prerequisite for bringing these reactors back on stream.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 9