Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2011

At the time of writing this it’s only June, but temperatures in the Kanto region are already well into the 30s. This doesn’t bode well for TEPCO. The electric utility, which is currently busy demonstrating a masterclass in public relations, has struggled to cope with the sudden increase in power consumption caused by masses of people cranking up their aircons. If you’re about to go sub-28 degrees (the threshold TEPCO recommends we don’t sink below) you might want to think again, as black-outs are looming large. On June 29 power demand hit 93% for TEPCO’s service area, while next week, on July 4, it really will be sweaty-bum time as demand is expected to hit 97%. If you’d like to keep your eye on power consumption over the coming months, check these handy links:

Firefox “Add-on” that shows current power consumption in your browser
https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/tepcometer/

Yahoo-hosted site showing a more in-depth outlook (in Japanese)
http://setsuden.yahoo.co.jp/tokyo/