Wholesale electricity prices in Japan markets soared high into the inflation world, triple digits levels, launched by the combination of a supply deficiency and panic buying in the short week to January 15 owing to a national holiday of Jan 11. Winners' curse dominated the markets. Based on the Rim Power Index (Day ahead 24 hours), weekday power prices in the east market, including Hokkaido, Tohoku and Tokyo area, averaged out at 147.02 yen per kilowatt hour (kWh), up 69.75 yen/kWh or 90.3 % from the previous week ending Jan 8, meanwhile prices in the west, made up of the Chubu, Hokuriku, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu area, at 129.64 yen/kWh, up 57.90 yen/kWh or 80.7%. The east average remained higher than the west, a once-normal-but-currently-rare price formation, with a gap growing to 17.38 yen/kWh from 5.53 yen/kWh.

Buyers were forced to purchase electricity in the wholesale markets at unprecedented high levels for avoiding paying more expensive imbalance price, a penalty fee for market participants' electricity supply and demand deviations. On the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), the east markets hit a historic high of 252.00 yen/kWh for a 16:30-to-17:00 unit to delivery on Jan 15, west also reached an areas' high of 242.21 yen/kWh for a 17:00-to-17:30 unit for the same delivery.

The premium of Hokkaido to Tokyo recorded plus 0.09 yen/kWh compared with minus 0.09 yen/kWh seen in in the previous week, with Hokkaido's 24 hours average of 147.11 yen/kWh (previous week's ave:77.21 yen) and Tokyo's 147.02 yen/kWh (77.30 yen), which are reckoned in conformity to data compiled by the JEPX. Hokkaido prices often drift at higher levels than other areas mainly in the winter season. Tohoku's 24 hours average logged146.97 yen/kWh, 0.05 yen/kWh lower than Tokyo.

Kansai's weekly average surged to 130.80 yen/kWh from 71.75 yen/kWh, and Kyushu's leaped to 129.74 yen/kWh from 71.72 yen/kWh. The difference of the two areas widened to 1.06 yen/kWh from 0.03 yen/kWh. Kansai area is the biggest market in the western Japan, and Kyushu's prices are apt to move at less expensive levels alongside of other areas.

On the JEPX, the weekday average of System Price (Day ahead 24 hours), which were figured based on the data of 9 areas, spiked upward by 63.92 yen/kWh or 84.1% to 139.93 yen/kWh, with the average volume standing 875,007 megawatts per hour (MWh) compared to previous week's 879, 907 MWh.

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