The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Tuesday that it received 1 trillion yen, or around $12.8 billion, in public funds and is now essentially under state control.
The company suffered huge losses following the March 2011 earthquake-triggered nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Funds from the government are expected to rescue the company from bankruptcy, leaving Tokyo with more than 50 percent of TEPCO’s voting rights.
“We feel sorry and take very seriously that the public was asked to bear a further burden,” TEPCO President Hirose Naomi said, according to the Kyodo news agency. He said the power company will keep compensating people and businesses affected by the disaster, supplying electricity, and dealing with the cripple Fukushima reactors.
Yukio Edano, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry, said TEPCO will be under state control for a “considerably long period of time,” reported AFP. The bailout and state control is “appropriate” for paying of debts and to bring itself back “as a purely private company in course of time,” he said.
The government allowed TEPCO to raise household electricity rates by September 1, but less than what was initially planned, reported Kyodo.
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