The company, which was battered financially by last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, was buying cheaper low-calorie sub-bituminous coal through term contracts, according to Gulf News.
TEPCO is expected to double coal consumption to 6.2mt in 2013 in order to double capacity of its coal-fired power plants to 3,200MW. The use of coal is expected to double again by 2021.
The firm is likely to hold auctions soon to contract out construction of three coal-fired power plants with a total capacity on 2,600MW so it can buy electricity from them starting in 2019.
TEPCO’s main reason for cutting fuel bills is to try and restart the Kashowazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in addition to helping the company stay afloat after an earthquake and tsunami took out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011.
The government of Japan has injected $12.8bn into Tepco in July to keep it afloat as the company pays compensation for victims and damages caused by the disaster at Fukushima nuclear plant last year.
TEPCO coal group senior manager Susumu Kose was quoted by Reuters as saying that the company will do anything possible to cut fuel costs, including increasing purchases of the sub-bituminous coal.
"We plan to expand our portfolio of coals so that we see more competition among suppliers. Our coal supply base is limited and there hasn’t been much competition among suppliers," Kose added.
