Electricity prices in Japan

Japan publishes no single national price per kWh, so this is the regulated Meter-Rate Lighting B tariff of TEPCO Energy Partner, the largest utility, which serves Tokyo and the surrounding Kanto region. TEPCO's model household (30 amperes, 260 kWh a month) reaches the second block, where each extra kWh costs ¥36.45 including 10% consumption tax. The figure leaves out the basic charge (¥1,176.18 a month at 30 A), the monthly fuel cost adjustment (minus ¥5.33 per kWh for November 2026) and the renewable energy surcharge (¥4.18 per kWh); with all of these the model household's November bill is ¥9,561, about ¥36.8 per kWh. Other regional utilities and competing retailers charge different rates, so the price on your own bill is the most accurate.

Checked against TEPCO on November 13, 2026.

TEPCO charges each block of a month's use at its own rate: the first 120 kWh at the first rate, the next 180 kWh at the second and everything above 300 kWh at the third, all including 10% consumption tax. Every bill also carries a basic charge set by the contracted amperage (¥392.06 a month at 10 A up to ¥2,352.36 at 60 A), the fuel cost adjustment, which changes every month (minus ¥5.33 per kWh for November 2026), and the renewable energy surcharge of ¥4.18 per kWh on bills from May 2026 to April 2027. A government subsidy lowers low-voltage bills by ¥1.0 per kWh for electricity used in December 2026 and by ¥4.5 per kWh for January and February 2027.

Japan's power sector is divided into ten regional areas, each once served by a single utility. Retail sales are now open to competition, but the former monopolies must still offer regulated household tariffs, which need government approval to rise. Most plans combine a basic fee linked to the contracted current with an energy rate in three tiers that rises with use. The east runs at fifty hertz and the west at sixty, which limits power flows between them.

Bills add a monthly fuel cost adjustment that follows import prices of gas, coal and oil, and a surcharge that funds renewable power. Imported gas and coal generate most electricity, alongside solar, hydropower and some restarted nuclear reactors. Demand peaks in summer for air conditioning and in winter for electric heating, and the government has repeatedly subsidised bills during price spikes.