The minister's comments were prepared for the launch of a power supply task force, which held its first meeting yesterday.

TEPCO, the world's largest stock exchange-listed power utility, has been forced to successively close down its reactors for safety checks since last September after it acknowledged falsifying some data on past inspections.

It restarted one 1.356 million-kilowatt (kW) nuclear reactor this week, but it has yet to say when it could begin operating its other 16 reactors.

The company services Tokyo and the surrounding areas.

Data prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for Thursday's meeting showed that power secured so far by TEPCO falls short of what it would need when temperatures start to climb and air conditioning demand soars.

Peak demand at TEPCO generally falls between July and August. The data showed that demand marked a record high of 64.30 million kW on July 24, 2001, when the temperature rose to 38.1 degrees.

Apart from the one reactor it has brought on line, TEPCO has so far secured about 55.0 million kW of power to meet daily summer demand, falling short of the amount needed.

METI said that power demand has marked a high of 60.10 million kW in TEPCO's service area as early as the first week of July.

Of the 55 million kW secured so far, about 7.0 million kW will come from TEPCO's hydro electric power plants and 33.0 million kW from its thermal power plants, METI said.

Other power utilities will supply some 15.0 million kW, it said.

SUPPLY TIGHT

At a separate news conference, TEPCO's President Tsunehisa Katsumata said that about eight to 10 nuclear reactors (including the one nuclear reactor which was restarted this week) would have to be back on line to meet summer demand.

"We hope to restart our nuclear reactors as soon as possible partly because these (thermal power) plants do not provide the same stability as nuclear reactors," Katsumata said.

He also said that TEPCO's power supply was currently tight, and that it typically had a supply surplus of about 8-10 percent to provide for emergencies.

A large obstacle to TEPCO restarting its reactors is the Japanese public's concerns about safety, which have been stoked by a series of accidents at nuclear plants.

TEPCO has turned to thermal power plants to cover the void left by the loss of nuclear power, which typically accounts for a little over 40 percent of its power supply.

Katsumata said that TEPCO planned to buy about 4.5 million kilolitres (kl), or 28.31 million barrels, of crude oil and fuel oil in the April to September period this year.

The volume is a massive increase from purchases of 1.8 million kl of crude oil and fuel, or 11.32 million barrels, in the same period last year.

TEPCO's reliance on thermal power has also forced a huge rise in the company's consumption of fossil fuels.