Hokkaido Electric to continue to give surplus power to Tohoku

Hokkaido Electric pledged to continue to give up to 300 megawatts of surplus power to quake-hit Tohoku Electric Power until the end of November, at a time many of Tohoku's nuclear and fossil fuel plants remain shut.

Hokkaido Electric has been supplying up to 300 megawatts of power to Tohoku since March, when a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, the region served by Tohoku, a Tohoku spokesman said.

According to a Reuters report, Hokkaido Electric will consider whether it can supply power to Tohoku from December onwards, when the utility needs to meet peak winter demand, a company spokesman said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co , which had supplied Tohoku with surplus power since August to help it meet peak summer demand, halted the assistance at the end of September.

Tohoku Electric said last week it expects to be able to secure capacity of at least 13,000 megawatts this winter, but it has not yet finished assessing demand as the pace of recovery from the March disaster is still unclear.