6Increasing Management Efficiency
More efficient capital spending
More load averaging
More efficient facilities
maintenance
Lower fuel costs
For fiscal 1999 through 2003, capital spending will be reduced to within
the amount of owned capital, a yearly average of about 310円 billion.
With the partial liberalization of retail power sales that started in March 2000, new competitors
are entering the power market from other industries and bidding for government and other
large power contracts has made the market truly competitive.
To respond to these challenges, Kyushu Electric Power is focusing on rigorous cost-cutting
measures to improve price competitiveness. We will use these measures to continue being the
premier power provider in the Kyushu area, staying on top of the newly competitive market. In
fiscal 2000, our Companywide measures to improve the efficiency of management practices
across the board produced better than expected results.
○しろまるReviews of project/replacement criteria, and design/construction cost reductions reduced our capital
○しろまるspending to 281円.3 billion, 21円.4 billion (7.1%) less than the initial plan.
○しろまるOur load factor increased to 57.1%, up 1.6 points from fiscal 1997. This increase was the result of
○しろまるwork on popularizing thermal storage systems and electric water heaters, as well as an increase in the
○しろまるamount of power sold to large users with high load factors. Of the 1.6-point improvement, 0.7 points
○しろまるcame from better load averaging.
○しろまるGeneral repair costs decreased to 132円.9 billion, down 10円.6 billion (7.4%). This decrease was the
○しろまるresult of greater facilities maintenance efficiency caused by reviews of inspection and repair processes,
○しろまるand the use of longer inspection and parts replacement cycles.
○しろまるA rise in preventive maintenance measures and quality assurance activities enabled a nuclear power
○しろまるutilization factor of 85.8%. The high availability factors of our Shin Oita Power Station and other
○しろまるhighly efficient power stations gave our thermal power sources a combined thermal efficiency of
○しろまる38.7%, about the same as last year (38.8%).
○しろまるLower contracting and rental costs increased efficiency and resulted in miscellaneous expenses falling
○しろまるto 162円.7 billion, down 19円.1 billion (10.5%).
○しろまるEfficiency measures such as the introduction of the Group system and the consolidation/closing of
○しろまるsome plants reduced the number of employees to 14,348 (less than the initially planned figure of
○しろまるabout 14,370).
Plan for increasing management efficiency in fiscal 2001
Lower miscellaneous expenses
More efficient operations
Load averaging will be used to create an effective yearly load factor
improvement of 1.5 points in fiscal 2003.
For fiscal 2001 through 2003, yearly general repair costs will average
about 140円 billion.
We will maintain a high nuclear power utilization factor (about 80%).
We will improve thermal efficiency by incorporating combined-cycle
generating systems into the thermal power plants under development,
and increasing the steam temperature.
For fiscal 2001 through 2003, miscellaneous expenses will average about
165円 billion per year.
By the end of fiscal 2003, we will cut about 500 employees from our
workforce, reducing the total from 14,445 (at the end of fiscal 1998) to
14,000.