Japan says it has enough power to meet scorching summer demand

TOKYO – Japan will have enough electricity to meet demand during the sweltering summer months, the government said in its latest analysis of the supply situation.

Households and businesses will not be asked to conserve power, as all regions are expected to have ample supply, according to documents from a meeting that is scheduled to be held by the trade ministry on May 20.

Japan uses the power reserve ratio to gauge spare electricity capacity against projected demand, with 3 per cent considered the minimum buffer.

The ratio for the Tokyo area is expected to be at its lowest during the first half of August at 3.5 per cent, the documents show.

The government will monitor the situation closely and implement additional supply-side measures as needed. 

The assessment comes as the world grapples with shortages arising from the war in the Middle East, which have exposed the vulnerability of many Asian nations, including Japan, that rely heavily on fossil fuel imports.

Countries that rely on natural gas from the region for electricity, such as Pakistan, are facing blackouts.

In recent years, Japanese utilities have reduced dependency on liquefied natural gas from the Middle East to the point where Qatar and the United Arab Emirates together made up only around 6 per cent of total supply in 2025, down from 25 per cent in 2024, according to ship-tracking data from analytics firm Kpler.

The government has also taken steps to ensure stable electricity markets, announcing in March that it would allow greater use of less-efficient coal-fired power plants to boost security of supply.

In addition, extra power capacity was auctioned ahead of the summer season, with Japan’s biggest producer, JERA, winning the bid to resume operations at a shuttered gas-fired plant. BLOOMBERG