Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) reported ¥136.2 billion ($954 million) in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday as lower fuel purchasing prices helped the utility to recover from the last year’s loss.
Tepco, the operator of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, which exploded in 2011 after a massive tsunami, paid ¥50.3 billion in compensation in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year, which began in April, the firm said in a statement.
Last month, Japan’s nuclear regulator granted approval for Tepco to start releasing radioactive water from the Fukushima plant — which Japan and the International Atomic Energy Agency say is safe but nearby countries fear it may contaminate food.
Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, chief financial officer at Tepco, told reporters that the company still plans to release the water from this summer, but did not provide a specific timing.
The firm’s peers, including Kansai Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, posted record first-quarter profits on lower fuel costs and as some of them return nuclear power back into operation.
In the first quarter of 2022 fiscal year, Tepco saw a ¥48.1-billion loss, hit by a high fuel purchasing price and ongoing payments to the victims of the 2011 nuclear disaster.