Power companies are expected to draw up contingency plans to restore electricity supplies in the event of disasters in cooperation with related bodies, with the government set to oblige the firms to draw up a "disaster coordination plan."
Electric utilities, telecommunications firms, the Self-Defense Forces and local governments, among other bodies, are expected to work together toward a systematic approach to power restoration under the plan.
A government team, which is probing what actions such related organizations took when Typhoon Nos. 15 and 19 hit last year, included the plan Thursday in its interim report on Typhoon No. 15.
The government is expected to submit related bills to the ordinary Diet session to be convened on Monday.
Electric power companies, local governments and the SDF are expected to decide in advance how they should share information and work out procedures to facilitate joint efforts to remove fallen trees disrupting power lines, according to the plan.
The government also plans to specify how electric power companies will operate power-supply vehicles dispatched to areas affected by major power outages. The plan is expected to enable the efficient dispatch of such vehicles to disaster-hit areas, allowing power firms to manage the vehicles using a global positioning system (GPS).
Typhoon No. 15 caused power outages in up to 930,000 households, mainly in Chiba Prefecture. In some areas, it took nearly two weeks to restore electricity as the power grid suffered damage over wide areas due to trees being knocked over by strong wind.
Effective operations were not carried out with the support of power supply vehicles from firms other than Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. after the typhoon, because the locations of power supply vehicles sent by electric power firms were not correctly identified.
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