Japan Atomic Power Co. posted record net profits for the first half of the current fiscal year, despite all of its reactors being taken offline following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The company, which supplies five regional electric utilities with power generated at its nuclear power plants, logged 20.9 billion yen ($238 million) in consolidated net profits in the April-September period in 2012, according to its half-year financial report submitted late last year to a regional office of the Finance Ministry.
It was able to post a profit despite generating no electricity because it was paid a combined 76 billion yen in “basic fees” by Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, Kansai Electric Power Co. and three other utilities.
The unlisted Japan Atomic Power receives these basic fees based on its contracts with the utilities. The company says its contracts are renewed every year and that it receives the payments even if it supplies no electricity to them.
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Group net profits shot up because there were no costs from generating power as all three of its reactors were idled.The company is expected to set a record in the current fiscal year ending in March if it does not suffer any major losses, surpassing its highest full-year group net profits of about 3.2 billion yen in fiscal 2008.
But posting profits without supplying power could rouse public ire because utilities pass these fees on to their customers.
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Officials with TEPCO and Kansai Electric have served as presidents of the company.Tsunehisa Katsumata, former president and chairman of TEPCO, serves as an external director of Japan Atomic Power.
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