Japanese Company Ask Customers to Use Less Electricity

Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company is asking its customers to reduce electricity usage after facing "significant difficulty in keeping electricity supply in balance".

The company says severe hot weather and increased electricity usage - particularly of air conditioners - has led to short supplies.

Tokyo Electric has struggled to secure sufficient power supplies due largely to the suspended operation of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station which was damaged by July's powerful earthquake in Niigata.

Reported by staff writer