TEPCO has been knocked back on its controversial plan to resume paying full bonuses to its employees in three years' time when electricity bills revert to lower rates.
TEPCO has been knocked back on its controversial plan to resume paying full bonuses to its employees in three years' time when electricity bills revert to lower rates.
A government task force set up to investigate Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s management and finances made it clear it found the plan unacceptable.
TEPCO has halved the bonuses it will pay to employees for the three-year period in which higher electricity charges will be billed to users. TEPCO had said it would resume paying full bonuses from fiscal 2015.
But that idea was nixed during an unofficial meeting of the government's investigation committee on management and finance held Sept. 14.
"We cannot approve TEPCO's plan of restoring bonus payments (to their original level) in fiscal 2015," said one committee member.
Some members also questioned the utility's plan to hike electricity charges by 15 percent.
TEPCO had justified the increase on grounds that fuel costs for its thermal power plants had risen.
But committee members noted that the increase could be considerably smaller if TEPCO gets the go-ahead to restart reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
As for TEPCO's plan to raise electricity charges by 15 percent, the committee postponed making a decision.
In July, TEPCO implemented 5-percent pay cuts for its employees and halved their bonuses as part of steps to pay compensation for costs incurred by the disaster caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
TEPCO said it plans to maintain the 5-percent salary cut until the compensation issue is paid.
Some TEPCO employees have griped about the wage reduction, saying it could lower morale of those who are battling to contain the crisis at the stricken nuclear plant or toiling to maintain a steady supply of electricity.