Tokyo officials switch off lights to conserve electricity

The government of Japan has called for Tokyo residents to keep conserving electricity by switching off the lights as forecasts for more scorching heat threaten to put more pressure on the grid.

Offices across the city are going dark to help conserve energy. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government turned off lights in some offices Tuesday afternoon, according to local newspaper Mainichi. The report said that the city government stopped one of its elevators in an effort to curb power usage.

Japan s temperatures are expected to be the hottest in at least 100 years over the last 10 days of June, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

As the week progresses, high temperatures will strain power supplies, with Japan s government extending an advisory into Wednesday that calls for households and businesses to curb consumption in Tokyo. According to the network coordinators, the city's power reserve ratio is expected to drop below a minimum threshold on Wednesday for grid stability.

Japan's power crunch this week comes amid hopes of a long summer of pressure on electricity networks across much of Asia, with blistering heat seen as global fuel shortages limit supply. While hotter weather is expected to stretch Tokyo's grid later this week, it is unlikely that the capital will face blackouts as generation in the rest of the country is strong.

The city's spot power prices went to 200 yen per kilowatt hour, the highest intraday level since January 2021, according to Japan Electric Power Exchange data.

Japan's top steelmakers, including Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc., said they will boost power output from their own generation facilities to add more supply to the Tokyo region.

Japan introduced a new system to warn people to be prepared for potential power crunch. The government issues a supply advisory a day before electricity reserve ratios drop below 5%, and will ramp it up to an alert if that figure falls below 3%, the minimum level necessary for a stable grid.

The power reserve ratio for Tokyo is expected to stay below 3% for much of the afternoon on Wednesday.

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