Compiled from Kyodo, Staff report
Tokyo Electric Power Co. cut off electricity to some service areas for up to two hours Monday evening in an unprecedented move to sustain the power supply to the capital after Friday's mega-temblor in the Tohoku region crippled a key nuclear power facility.
The unprecedented rolling blackout for the Group 5 areas came after regionwide energy-saving efforts in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures contributed to the postponement of its planned power outage scheduled for Monday morning and early in the afternoon.
But the outage between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., the peak time of power consumption, had to be carried out for the fifth zone, Tepco said, adding that blackouts started with parts of Ibaraki and Shizuoka prefectures. It was not immediately clear if the other areas in the zone were affected.
The zone includes some 330,000 households in a number of municipalities in the Kanto region, including Yokohama and Kawasaki.
The initial postponement was prompted by lower-than-expected demand as the government urged the nation to unplug unnecessary appliances.
Under the plan aimed at making up for an expected power shortage, Tokyo and eight other prefectures have been divided into five groups, each of which could experience electricity outages for three to six hours on a rotating basis, according to the utility. A power outage had been planned from 6:20 a.m. in the first of the five groups.
Despite the postponement of morning blackouts, however, train services were significantly disrupted throughout the day after railways canceled many operations as a pre-emptive measure to avert chaos.
Railways warned that Monday's disorder may continue well into April, and as long as Tepco continues its planned power outages.
A spokeswoman for Keio Electric Railway Co. said its operations Monday were limited to about 50 percent of a usual weekday, while some areas, including the stations west of Chofu, went out of service in the morning and the evening.
"Regarding our operations from tomorrow, it will all depend on how Tepco will proceed with the blackouts," the spokeswoman said, adding there is a possibility the zoning for power outages could be modified by the electricity provider as well.
Because train operations are interlinked with electricity supply from Tepco, it is unlikely regular operations will resume until the rolling blackouts end. That is expected at the end of April at this point.
A spokesman for Tokyo Metro Co. echoed this view, saying chaos may continue for a while. The subway operator said it was able to cover only about 40 percent of its schedule in the morning, but eventually had about 80 percent of scheduled trains in operation.