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Tip 1: Understand How to Calculate Your Electricity Bill in Japan
Understanding how to calculate your?electricity bill is crucial to reducing the amount you pay. The calculation system might differ slightly from the system in your country, but it is fairly simple. Let's see the details of the electricity bill calculation system in Japan.
There are 10 historical electric utility providers?in Japan and each of them provide various plans. In spite of the numerous options, the majority of households (especially non-Japanese residents) subscribe to a standard plan, also called Jyuryou Dento (従量電灯) in Japanese.
The structure of this regular plan is the same for all 10 major electricity suppliers. It consists of a Basic Fee (基本料金) that you pay every month, regardless of your consumption, and of fees based on your consumption.
+ Charge for the Amount of Electricity Used (including Fuel Cost Adjustment Amount)
+ Renewable Energy Power Promotion Surcharge
Note that some providers set the Base Fee (基本料金) according to your amperage (the level of power your meter can use) while other companies just has a set amount as a minimum fee.
In the table below we sum up the different components of your bill:
| Total electricity bill | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Basic fees Fixed fee that corresponds to your demand charge and varies according to your contract ampere/your provider |
Energy use?charge Monthly energy consumption |
Renewable energy power promotion surcharge Monthly energy consumption |
|
Fuel cost adjustment amount Monthly energy consumption |
||
For a more detailed explanation of the calculation system of an electricity bill for a regular plan, do not hesitate to check out our article on TEPCO's rates and plans.
For now let's note that the two important factors in your bill are your energy consumption and the base fee.?
The other components, such as the fuel cost adjustment rate and the renewable energy power promotion surcharge are determined by the Japanese government, so they will stay the same no matter which company you chose or how much energy you consume.
Tip 2: Choose the adapted contracted amperage
Once you have understood how your electricity bill is constructed, you can use this knowledge to reduce the price you pay. As explained above, the first element that can vary is the Base Fee which most of the time, depends on your contracted amperage.
The higher your contracted ampere is, the most expensive your basic fees will be. Thus, if your current contracted power rating is higher than necessary, you may be able to save money by changing your ampere!
For example, the demand charge applied by TEPCO varies from ?280.80 to ?1,684.80 per month, as you can see in the table below:
Demand Charge and Contracted Ampere at TEPCO
| Contracted Ampere | 10A | 15A | 20A | 30A | 40A | 50A | 60A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demand Charge | ?280.80 | ?421.20 | ?561.60 | ?842.40 | ?1,123.20 | ?1,404.00 | ?1,684.80 |
To check whether your amperage is unnecessarily high, compare the demand charges in the table above against the appliances you genuinely run at the same time.
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Tip 3: Reduce your energy consumption
Obviously the amount of electricity you consume is the most important factor on your bill; it impacts the energy charge, the fuel cost adjustment, and the renewable energy power promotion surcharge you will have to pay.
If you want to reduce your bill, thinking about ways to reduce your consumption is a great place to start. According to the research done by the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, the 5 most energy-consuming appliances at home in Japan are as flows:
- Refrigerator
- Light
- Television
- Air conditioner
- Electrical?water heater
There are many daily practices you can adopt to reduce your electricity consumption, starting with unplugging a device when you are not using them (especially the phone and computer chargers, television and so on...), limiting the time that you keep the refrigerator's door open, or simply switching off the lights that are not needed.