ent is considering the reintroduction of daylight saving, which Japan briefly adopted during the U.S. occupation after World War II. [ID:nL3E7EQ00I]
It might also raise prices for peak-time power use to try to balance out supply and demand, a trade ministry official, who declined to be identified, said last week.
TEPCO estimates it can squeeze 54 gigawatts of supply out of its network by summer, up from around 35 gigawatts now, by rushing repairs on damaged thermal plants and by plugging mothballed power stations back into the grid.
But that will still fall short of the 60 gigawatts of power typically demanded during the summer peak months.
That means more rolling blackouts that will force Amauchi and other corporate executives to find longer-term solutions.
ON YOUR OWN?
Konica Minolta , a maker of printers and high-tech components, said that like Amauchi's company it was adjusting workers' shifts to deal with the power disruption. It is also increasing use of its own power generators and is lobbying officials to adjust the blackout schedule to enable them to get uninterrupted power for longer periods of time.
"Based on the assumption a cap on total usage will be implemented from summer to balance out supply and demand, I believe companies will need to come up with a plan to meet its target based on last year's peak usage and the expected cut rate," CEO Masatoshi Matsuzaki told Reuters in an email.
The government has so far been preoccupied with disaster relief and containing the nuclear crisis at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi power plant, so has found little time to consider how it will pay for reconstruction let alone manage the shortage of power supply, adding to the uncertainty for company managers like Amauchi.
"Japan is facing a real crisis today but I'm sceptical the government can help each and everyone affected. We're going to have to deal with this ourselves," she concluded as the dull pounding and grinding sound of her family's factory filtered through the walls. (Additional reporting by James Topham and Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Editing by Tim Kelly, Neil Fullick and Dean Yates)