TEPCO asks gov't to help pay nuclear disaster damages

TOKYO, May 10 Kyodo -
The head of Tokyo Electric Power Co. asked the government Tuesday to help it pay the enormous costs expected in compensating victims of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant while promising to streamline the company's operations as urged by the government.
After making the formal request to industry minister Banri Kaieda, Tokyo Electric President Masataka Shimizu unveiled a new cost-cutting plan that includes returning his remuneration as well as that of Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and six executive vice presidents.
The request came as the government is in the final stage of discussions to decide on a compensation scheme following the country's worst nuclear accident triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Kaieda said the framework may be decided Friday.
Responding to the request, Kaieda asked the company, known as TEPCO, to agree not to set an upper limit for the total amount of compensation to be paid, and implement compensation payments ''swiftly and appropriately.''
In a written communication addressed to Shimizu, Kaieda also asked the utility to make ''maximum efforts'' to streamline management operations and accept an investigation by a third-party panel to be set up by the government to check the company's finances in a bid to ensure thorough cost-cutting and strict asset evaluation.
Kaieda told reporters he expects TEPCO to reach a conclusion Wednesday on whether it would accept the six conditions the government presented for offering support, which also call on the utility to work hard to bring an end to the nuclear crisis and to secure funds to maintain stable supply of electricity.
TEPCO said in its written request handed to Kaieda that the company needs nearly 1 trillion yen additionally for fiscal 2011 for fuel costs to produce electricity through thermal power generation, and that it expects 750 billion yen for the year's corporate bond redemption and debt payment.
Without state support, TEPCO would ''not be able to make ends meet sooner or later,'' which could negatively affect compensation payments to the disaster victims and the stable supply of electricity, the request said.
''As our company will work to streamline its management as much as possible, we would like to ask for state support to ensure the fair and swift implementation of compensation to the victims,'' it said.
TEPCO had initially planned to halve the remuneration of its management team from managing directors and above, but in addition to returning the full remuneration of the chairman, president and executive vice presidents, Shimizu said the company will raise the percentage of remuneration to be returned by managing directors to 60 percent.
TEPCO would also compile a plan to sell its assets, such as real estate, by the time it releases its earnings results for fiscal 2010, likely to take place next week.
The utility has apparently decided to accept the government's requirement for further restructuring in the face of concerns about criticism if it raises electricity charges to cover the prospective massive compensation costs.
Kaieda told reporters that he evaluates positively the company's plan to return the top executives' remuneration, while announcing later in the day that, as the person responsible of the country's nuclear power policy, he will forgo his salaries paid for serving as a minister until the nuclear crisis is brought under control.
The industry minister also said the government will urge TEPCO to ensure that the state's financial burden for supporting it is ''kept to the minimum'' and that the costs should not lead to an immediate increase in electricity bills.
The government is considering the establishment of a new institution for dealing with the damages payments in the event they exceed TEPCO's capacity to pay.
The envisioned new body will also function as an insurance entity to prepare for possible future nuclear accidents, and the government plans to seek financial contributions from all utilities that operate atomic power stations.
TEPCO is still working to bring the radiation-leaking Fukushima plant under control, after many of the reactors lost their cooling functions following the quake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan.