Tokyo Electric Power Company (PK) (TKECF) News

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Monday that it had made a shareholder proposal, requesting Tokyo Electric to restart nuclear reactors, citing a potential power shortage later this year.

https://www.ft.com/content/57bdef2e-2d1b-4d06-8163-830f17764219

Restart of just two reactors at Kashiwazaki would be worth ¥30bn-40bn ($270m-360m) a year in profits to Tepco after five years. The cash flow benefit would be even larger — approximately ¥70bn-80bn — because Tepco would have less need to buy fossil fuels to burn in other plants.

*Tokyo Electric Power Shares Jump on Nuclear Restart Hopes
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tokyo-electric-power-shares-jump-on-nuclear-restart-hopes-271651803090

Lets get this party (re)started

Japan Regulator to Begin Checks at Tepco’s Niigata Reactors


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/japan-regulator-to-begin-checks-at-tepco-s-reactors-in-niigata.html

Japan to Begin Restarting Idled Nuclear Plants, Leader Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/world/asia/japan-to-begin-restarting-idled-nuclear-plants.html?_r=0

Japan's TEPCO gears up for US shale gas imports

..........The Japanese government which took power in late December, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, appears to be backing away from a commitment by the previous administration to phase out nuclear power. But tighter regulations following the Fukushima accident and public opposition are slowing any moves to bring nuclear plants shut down for safety checks back online.

Soaring imports of oil and gas helped push Japan's trade deficit in 2012 to 6.9 trillion yen ($75 billion). As the largest Japanese electricity company, TEPCO is especially keen to reduce costs for its fuel imports.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-tepco-gears-us-shale-060221030.html

Tepco plans to dump ‘cleaned’ Fukushima No. 1 water

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to dump contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean after removing radioactive substances to reduce contamination to legally permissible levels.

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/01/25/national/tepco-plans-to-dump-cleaned-fukushima-no-1-water/#.UQQ4GtckR8E

Tepco's Fukushima HQ starts operations
Futaba mayor: Citizens may be able to go home after 30 years

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20130105a4.html

Japan's Tepco sued by US sailors over radiation

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20856051

Explains the share price drop today. Good buying opportunity...

TEPCO requests additional Y697 bil yen for compensation

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-requests-additional-y697-bil-yen-for-compensation

And the other side of the coin...

Nuclear Stock Rally in Japan Ignores Public Opposition


“Just because politicians say they want to restart reactors doesn’t mean they will actually be able to do it,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, which has about $400 billion in assets. “It’ll be hard to maintain these stock gains,” she said.

Any plans to restart reactors will need approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which is investigating six atomic plants on concern they were built on active fault lines. Japanese law states reactors cannot be built on active faults, indicating the plants may need to be decommissioned.

.....

The likelihood of backpedaling in central Europe is even slimmer than in Japan, “for the simple reason that Japan’s energy crunch without nuclear is far greater than in countries like Germany or Switzerland,” said Mark Hibbs, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment nuclear policy program in Berlin.

The LDP, led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, took 294 seats in Japan’s 480-member lower house of parliament, public broadcaster NHK said yesterday. The party governed for all but 10 months since 1955 and oversaw Japan’s development of atomic energy. It was ousted in 2009, two years before an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, releasing radiation and forcing evacuation of 160,000 people.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-17/tepco-leads-power-utilities-rally-as-abe-seen-restarting-nuclear.html

Tepco Shares Surge on Speculation LDP to Allow Nuclear Restarts

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s shares surged on speculation the Liberal Democratic Party’s election victory will pave the way for the utility to restart reactors at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, the world’s biggest.

The stock, which lost more than 90 percent of its value after the meltdown of three reactors at its Fukushima plant in March last year, jumped 33 percent at the morning close in Tokyo, or by its daily limit, trading at 202 yen, the biggest gain since Oct. 11, 2011.

“For Tepco to make a reasonable profit, the restart of reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant is essential,” said Hirofumi Kawachi, an energy analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. “Investors judge the result of yesterday’s election as a big step forward for the restart.”


Source

Kansai Electric Power to increase household rates by 12%, plans for more reactor restarts

Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) has made plans to raise its electricity rates for household users by 12% starting in April 2013. The utility company, which serves Japan’s Kansai area, or western region, will submit its request to the central government this week in what will be the company’s first rate hike since 1980.

In addition, the Kyushu Electric Power Co., which serves the southwestern island of Kyushu, is also planning to increase its own rates by 8.5% starting in April. The price hikes are an attempt to combat the increasingly more expensive costs of importing and using fossil fuels in the wake of Japan’s near-abandonment of nuclear power. Both KEPCO and Kyushu Electric sustained heavy losses during the April-September months of 2012. While KEPCO is the utility responsible for managing the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, home of the only two reactors still in operation, it will join Kyushu Electric in also raising rates for corporate users by 15-20%.

The two power companies can’t bet on the benefits of more income just yet, as the central Japanese government has to review and approve of all rate hikes by utilities, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry could deny their application or force them to lower the rate of increase. While the majority of people in Japan have taken the stance that the use of nuclear power should be abandoned, KEPCO and Kyushu Electric are also developing business strategies that would see the restart of more nuclear reactors sometime next year, with the hopes of returning to profitability in the fiscal 2013 year.

Source - http://japandailypress.com/kansai-electric-power-to-increase-household-rates-by-12-plans-for-more-reactor-restarts-2618923

Bond prices are trading at nearly 100 cents on the dollar for everything that is up to 5 years out...the lowest bond price up till the end of this decade is actually 89 cents I believe.

It appears we are currently between stage 2 and 3 with TEPCO. I would agree. What do the Bondholders think if we could guage it on price?

TEPCO continued donations to villages after Fukushima nuclear accident

Source: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201210220060

Removal of steel members started at Fukushima I unit 3

http://www.shimbun.denki.or.jp/en/news/20120925_02.html

Tepco brings in outside experts to monitor nuclear reforms

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/tepco-reforms-idUSL3E8KB6G820120911

My comments: TEPCO is proceeding as expected to take all the necessary steps to restart all the reactors. The cynic inside me thinks this is just a PR move to appease the public, but regardless, I am pleased to see them making the appropriate movies.

Foreign firms eye bids for TEPCO smart meters

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T120826002054.htm

TEPCO is proceeding forward as usual.

TEPCO chief vows cost cuts amid $3.68 bn loss

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/tepco-chief-vows-cost-cuts-091943654.html

Tepco Under State Control as Government Gets Shares for Cash

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-31/tepco-under-state-control-as-government-gets-shares-for-cash.html

Japan's Tepco baffled by criticism of its role in nuclear disaster

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48239154

TEPCO president vows to overcome public distrust

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/19061541/tepco-president-vows-to-overcome-public-distrust

Government allows TEPCO rate hike as high as 8%

http://japandailypress.com/government-allows-tepco-rate-hike-as-high-as-8-196929

Steady as she goes......

It appears we are currently between stage 2 and 3 with TEPCO.

Guide to distressed utility investing by Peter Lynch

This chapter deals with utilities, especially nuclear power providers who suffer a temporary setback (like General Public Utilities, once proud owners of Three Mile Island Unit Two), but also other power utilities such as Consolidated Edison, who made massive losses as the price of oil skyrocketed in the 70s energy crisis, and yet regulators refused to allow the company to pass on the price to energy consumers. Although regulators can be a real burden on utilities, they are also their guardian angels, trying to prevent them from going entirely out of business, as long as people still need electricity the government regulators will not allow the company to fold. As a result utilities can take massive hits in the share price, but in all but a very rare few there is a support level from which they bounce back, often very spectacularly several years after the event. Lynch quotes some specialist utility analysts who have identified four distinct stages in a utility crash and recovery.

Stage one: disaster. Either the cost of fuel has gone through the roof or a major accident has occurred, a huge sell off follow, where the utility may fall to 20 to 30 percent of book value in one or two years. Those who regard utilities as safe bottom draw blue chips usually get something of a shock if their once-a-decade examination of their portfolio happens to coincide with this period.

Stage two: crisis management. An austerity budget is adopted and the dividend is reduced or eliminated. Costs are cut to the point that the company can survive the disaster. At this point Wall Street isn't paying attention any more, and stock prices remain very low.

Stage three: financial stabilization. The company, now as lean and mean as it will ever get can now turn a profit on the cash it receives from its bill-paying customers. Share prices by now have doubled, they are selling at 60 to 70% of book value while still reflecting great value in the eyes of typical "value investors".

Stage four: recovery. The company can now once again make a profit and pay a dividend. Shares now sell at full book value. Where it goes from here depends a lot on how regulators allow it to pass on costs to customers and the reception from the capital markets, because the company needs capital to expand.


http://www.rbcpa.com/Lynch's25GoldenRules.html

Govt may delay financial support for Tepco

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/17/tokyoelectricpower-government-idUSL4E8IH3F820120717

Consumer panel tells Tepco to cut pay 30%

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120717x2.html#.UAWDkHWoG8A

TEPCO may cut rate hike to 9% level

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120703004159.htm

Tepco's Plans Restart of World's Biggest Nuclear Plant

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/tepco-s-new-chief-sees-no-plan-b-to-revive-profitability.html

TEPCO Shareholders Approve Nationalization

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/video/video-japans-tepco-nationalization-approved/article4373468/

Chevron Sells Australia LNG Project Stake to Tepco

http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2012/06/18/chevron-sells-australia-lng-project-stake-to-tepco/

They are diversifying. Nuclear will have to be the core of Japan's energy industry though.

TEPCO directors quit with 'golden parachute'

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/tepco-directors-quit-over-fukushima-disaster/4096552

I'm surprised this stock hasn't received more attention from contrarian investors...this is definitely a opportunity of a lifetime IMO.

I don't know much about TKECY except that, as you mentioned, it's much less liquid than TKECF. Furthermore, TKECF is considered a "foreign security" so when I purchased it, I was charged an additional $15 transaction fee (aside from the $9.99 regular stock purchase fee that Ameritrade charges). However, this $15 foreign fee isn't charged by Ameritrade directly; rather, whatever foreign broker sold me the shares charged Ameritrade, who then passed the charge onto me.

Can anyone explain the difference between TKECF and TKECY? Volume seems very low on TKECY but it is the only one of the two that Zecco will let me purchase.

TKECF @ 3.68

All depends on what's going on in JAPAN. This stock mimics the stock changes in the Japanese stock for Tokyo Electric Power...as it's the stock for the same company. If you google TEPCO, you'll find articles relating to positive or negative news that cause changes in the stock price daily.

nevermind, misread the article.

Nationalization... uh oh.

and we'll be here to make hundreds of %
(I hope)

Its very unstable, people are very undecided. All I know is this stock will rise pretty soon when good PR starts rolling out!

Anyone have any idea on why this stock will drop .25 one day and rise .25 the next?

Anyone have any idea on why this stock will drop .25 one day and rise .25 the next?

"Crippled Japan plant's operator pays relief money to nuclear crisis victims"

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced Saturday it has paid a total of 50.3 bn yen in temporary relief money to residents, businesses and fishery and agricultural organizations who have been affected by the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant [exchange rate is 80.1 yen to the dollar].

Payments to residents totaled around 49 bn yen for roughly 52,000 households among approximately 63,000 who have applied for relief money. They were given 1 million yen per household, except for those single-member units that were given 750,000 yen.

Around 160m yen was paid to 105 small businesses, while four organizations received 1.15 bn yen.

TEPCO said it is hoping to begin paying full-fledged compensation once the government works out relevant legislation to support crisis-hit people and businesses.

Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1353 gmt 18 Jun 11

I was wondering when this news would emerge and we would know the full amount owed.

Recently placed $5k when shares were at 2.38, small gain so far.

I don't know, so much to say. I'm wondering if I should invest more? The bottom of TKECF 2.37 not sure if it will be coming back to 12$ ? I already put money in at 5 hope it wont dip back to its lowest, as the diet still hasn't passed.

why so quiet here