TEPCO seeks additional public money injection

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has asked for more
public funds from a government-backed entity to avoid negative net
worth and to compensate the victims of the nuclear crisis at the
facility.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, on Thursday asked the entity
set up to help compensate the victims for one trillion yen, or over 12
billion dollars, for capital reinforcement. The utility also requested
about 10 billion dollars to bolster its reserves for compensation.

Approval of the requests would put the total amount of public funds
injected into the utility at more than 40 billion dollars.

The requests are part of a business renewal plan that TEPCO is
compiling. The utility gave up on completing the plan this month, due
to key issues such as the size of the share in TEPCO that it will
allow the government to take in exchange for the funds.

TEPCO also opposes the government's plan to reshuffle the firm's
management.

TEPCO President Toshio Nishizawa expressed hope that the utility wants
to do business in the private sector while implementing management
reforms.

TEPCO faces financial difficulties amid increasing fuel costs for
thermal power plants. Without state support, the utility's liabilities
could exceed its assets during the fiscal year starting in April.

Thursday, March 29, 2012 20:00 +0900 (JST)