Japan Inc. would grind to a halt without Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which supplies power to a population of 43.9 million customers in Tokyo, Yokohama, and the rest of the Kanto region. One of the world’s largest electric utilities, TEPCO’s 190 power plants have the generating capacity of approximately 62,000 MW, primarily produced by thermal, nuclear, and hydroelectric power sources. Through interests in telecom businesses, the company offers telephony and Internet services; it also has international consulting and power generation operations. Other businesses include construction, real estate, and transportation companies.

Criticism

Environmental

• High Time for UN to Break ‘Partnership’ with the ICC: “The company is heavily criticized by environmental groups for destroying 3,000 hectares of native forests on Tasmania and replacing them with fast-growing eucalyptus. The environmental havoc wreaked on Tasmania will earn the Japanese power company carbon credits worth 130,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, allowing it to continue polluting from its Japanese power plants. The company received the UNEP-ICC award for ‘taking its fight against global climate change and environmental degradation onto the world stage.'”

• JAPAN: Nuclear scandal may juice power prices: “Japan’s electricity prices may surge because safety coverups could prompt the government to order more nuclear reactors closed, Mizuho Investors Securities says.”

Praise

Brands & Subsidiaries