Kyushu Electric Power Co has become Japan's second nuclear generator after the Fukushima disaster to seek state support this week as reactors across the country remain idled and industry losses stack up three years after the Fukushima disaster. All of Japan's 48 nuclear reactors have been shut down, pending stringent safety checks, since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out the Fukushima nuclear complex in March 2011.
Kyushu Electric, a regional monopoly that supplies power in southern Japan, said on Wednesday it was in talks with state-owned Development Bank of Japan Bank of Japan (DBJ) for financial backing. The country's nine publicly traded nuclear operators have together lost 3.2 trillion yen ($31 billion) in the two business years since then and five of them, including Kyushu Electric and Hokkaido Electric, also expect to be loss-making in the year just ended, Reuters reports. Japanese banking practices make it difficult for private lenders to extend credit, including refinancing existing loans, to companies that post three straight years of losses. That means the utilities are turning to a government-owned lender for help as the losses mount up and the cost of importing expensive fossil fuels for power generation while nuclear reactors are idle is draining their capital. "Capital funds have been continuously declining and liabilities might soon exceed assets," said a senior industry source familiar with Hokkaido Electric's finances. "Continued deficits have made it harder to borrow from banks. The way to solve this is to increase rates to boost revenue, but since this is very hard to do, other avenues are being considered." Hokkaido Electric's capital ratio - a key measure of financial health - has dropped to 8.9 percent from 24.2 percent before March 2011. Kyushu Electric's capital ratio has more than halved to 11.5 percent. The average capital ratio of Japan's top companies is 43 percent, finance ministry data shows. The utilities are also likely to be saddled with huge decommissioning costs as many idled reactors are unlikely to pass strict new standards, a Reuters analysis shows. Re-starts also face political opposition. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is moving to revive nuclear power, but hasn't been able to get its coalition partner to sign off on a plan that defines nuclear power as an important source of electricity generation. Of Japan's 48 reactors, 17 are unlikely to be restarted, and as many as 34 may have to be mothballed, the Reuters analysis shows. The cost of decommissioning a reactor is estimated at around $1 billion. According to industry ministry data, the utilities have spent 9 trillion yen ($86.9 billion) on additional fuel costs in the three years since the Fukushima disaster. To ease the strain, the companies have been raising electricity charges, but were warned by the industry minister this week that further increases must be avoided. Source: The Voice of Russia
Mumbai: The hotel tariff went up by 12 per cent in the first six months of this year in the country amid rise in demand for hotel rooms from domestic travellers, the recent Hotel Price Index (HPI) report said. According to the report which reviewed the hotel tariff globally, there are clear signs that the hotel industry is on the recovery path. "In India, the overall rate rose 12 per cent following a surge in demand from domestic travellers as overseas destinations became more expensive," the report said. For the first time in five years, travellers paid more for their hotel rooms during the first six months of 2012, in all parts of the world and globally average hotel prices rose by 4 per cent over the last year indicating the hotel industry is staging recovery, it said. Launched in 2004, the HPI looks at prices that people actually paid for their hotel rooms around the world. "The hotel industry bounced back in the first half of this year from a number of natural and political crises in 2011, and it is encouraging to see growth in the sector," Hotels.com President David Roche said. While initially it may not seem good news for consumers, hotel prices are still only around their 2005 level, representing great value for travellers when both wages and other prices have risen considerably, he added. Following the turmoil of the Arab Spring in early 2011, confidence returned to much of the Middle East and North Africa and hotel prices rose accordingly. Japanese began to travel again putting behind the turbulence of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in March 2011 while there was significant increase in the number of Chinese international travellers that helped to drive rates higher, the report said. In the US, increasing business travel coupled with higher consumer spending made hotels busier with less discounting. In the Pacific, the resources boom in Australia meant that space was at a premium, especially in Western Australia with global business visitors vying with mining executives for rooms. Although rates rose as a whole in Europe, the results showed a mixed picture. In euro zone, prices dropped where falling consumer confidence and spending power led to lower occupancy in the major cities and holiday hot spots. "The first six months of 2012 have proved a promising start for most hotels. However, the second half of the year, with increasingly mixed economic signals, will be interesting to watch," Roche said. 
