Japan faces power outage threat after quake, issues urgent plea to save energy

The Japanese government on Tuesday issued an urgent call to its citizens to save energy to avoid blackouts after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the country last week and caused a serious power shortage.

Japanese turned off neon signs, dimmed their lights and dialled down thermostats on Tuesday after the government issued an urgent call to save energy to avoid blackouts after an earthquake last week caused a serious power shortage.

Up to 3 million households faced the threat of blackouts on Tuesday night, as utility Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) warned of tight supply and surging demand as snow fell across Tokyo and the temperature dropped to 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit).

But by later in the evening, the country appeared likely to avoid blackouts, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said. Still, authorities were keeping a power-supply warning in place for Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said, meaning the world's no.3 economy could still face blackouts.

A similar warning for the northeastern area was lifted, NHK said.

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake last week off the northeastern coast - the same region devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - temporarily cut power to about 2 million households, including hundreds of thousands in Tokyo.

"At this rate, we are coming closer to a state where we will have to conduct power outages similar to those that took place after the quake," the trade minister, Koichi Hagiuda, said earlier on Tuesday.

The quake hit six thermal plants, knocking them out of operation in areas served by Tepco and Tohoku Electric Power Co (9506.T), and the damage could leave some of them idle for weeks or even months, Hagiuda said.