Electricity and gas bills will be higher in January-March

The nation's 10 power utilities and four major gas utilities plan to raise monthly energy prices for the January-March quarter by up to 196 yen for an average household of four people.

The margin of increase for electricity will range from 45 yen to 196, yen and that of gas will be 128 yen to 196, yen the companies said.

The markups over the current quarter are necessitated by sharp rises in the import costs of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, they said.

The margins of the increases were computed in tandem with the energy fee adjustment system, under which utilities are required to transfer to consumers the ups and downs in crude and LNG prices as well as in currency rates.

The mandatory system was introduced in 1996.

The January-March quarter will be the second consecutive quarter in which all 10 power utilities will raise fees simultaneously.

The four gas utilities as well as four of the 10 power utilities are boosting their charges by the sharpest margin since the fee adjustment system was introduced.

The gas utilities are Tokyo Gas Co., Osaka Gas Co., Toho Gas Co. and Saibu Gas Co.

The four power utilities with the highest markets are Tokyo Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.

In addition to the energy cost surges, the dollar shot up in value against the yen during the July-September quarter, rising 4 yen during the quarter, which was used to compute energy prices for the January-March quarter under the adjustment system.

The dollar-yen rate change bolstered the yen-denominated value of the import costs of crude oil and LNG by 17 percent and 13 percent.

Among the 10 power utilities, Okinawa Electric Power Co. is raising its fees by the sharpest margin.