Japan electricity prices in eastern wholesale markets remained weak in the week ending December 13, resulting chiefly from tepid heating usage under the warm winter weather, with western markets moving practically sideways bolstered apparently by the output suppression. Based on the Rim Power Index (Day ahead 24 hours), the weekday power prices in the eastern market, including Hokkaido, Tohoku and Tokyo area, averaged out at 9.29 yen per kilowatt hour (kWh), down 0.52 yen/kWh or 5.6% from the previous week, meanwhile prices in the western, made up of Chubu, Hokuriku, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu area, at 8.35 yen/kWh, down 0.04 yen/kWh, or 0.5%.

The premium of Hokkaido against Tokyo shrunk to 0.29 yen/kWh from the prior week's 1.06 yen/kWh, with Hokkaido's average 9.18 yen/kWh (prior week's ave:10.27 yen) and Tokyo's 8.89 yen/kWh (9.21 yen), which are calculated from data compiled by the Japan Electric Power Exchange. Tokyo's daily maximum temperatures were projected on a day ahead basis at 11 to 18 degrees Celsius for Nov 10 to 13. Sapporo's low temperatures were done at minus 1 to plus 5 deg C. Tokyo enjoyed good weather conditions in the week excluding Dec 10.

Osaka and Nagoya's daily max temperatures were forecasted at 12 to 17 deg C under sunny skies. On the other hand, Kyushu area experienced some 0.01 yen/kWh units on the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) for delivery on Dec 9, 10 and 13. This supposably forced electricity producers to throttle back output of thermal power generation in west Japan.

On the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), the weekday average of System Price (Day ahead 24 hours), which are computed based on the data of 9 areas, slipped by 0.32 yen/kWh or 3.6% to 8.50 yen/kWh, with the average volume gaining by 18,221 megawatt per hour (MWh) or 2.1% to 906,423 MWh.

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