４月値上げ、先送りへ　電力５社の家庭料金、厳格審査―政府

　東北、北陸、中国、四国、沖縄の電力大手５社が経済産業省に申請した家庭向け規制料金の引き上げ時期が４月から５月以降にずれ込む見通しであることが２４日、分かった。電気代の値上げは家計への影響が大きいため、経産省は各社による燃料費の見積もりや経営効率化に向けた取り組みを厳格に審査するための十分な期間を確保する。
　岸田文雄首相が２４日午前の「物価・賃金・生活総合対策本部」で、「４月（実施）という日程ありきではなく、厳格かつ丁寧な査定による審査を行ってほしい」と西村康稔経産相に指示した。西村氏はその後の記者会見で「燃料価格や為替も大きく変動しているので、電力会社がどう見ているのかを厳格に審査する」と表明。液化天然ガス（ＬＮＧ）などはロシアのウクライナ侵攻後のピーク時よりも値下がりし、急激な円安進行も収まっている状況を踏まえ、燃料費を可能な限り圧縮できないか審査する方針だ。（2023/02/24-20:57）

Price hikes planned for April by five regional power utilities in Japan are now expected to be delayed until May or later, with the government set to take more time to scrutinize their applications for the hikes, it was learned Friday.
   The five are Tohoku Electric Power Co. , Hokuriku Electric Power Co. , Chugoku Electric Power Co. , Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Okinawa Electric Power Co. .
   At a meeting of the government's Headquarters for Comprehensive Measures on Prices, Wages, and Livelihoods on the day, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura to conduct "strict and careful screenings" of the applications without assuming that the price hikes should be implemented in April.
   The industry ministry plans to examine whether there is scope for the power companies to cut fuel costs, given that liquefied natural gas and other fuel prices have fallen from peaks they hit in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that the yen's rapid weakening against other major currencies has corrected to some extent.
   In November last year, the five companies applied to raise their regulated electricity rates for household customers by around 28 to 45 pct on April 1. An expert panel of the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission started screening their applications in December.