東京電灯の企業合併と広域電気供給網の形成

抄録

The purpose of this paper is to consider the effects of the mergers in the electric power industry during the inter-war period in Japan, based on the case of Tokyo Electric Light Co. (TELC). The foci of our analysis are the formation of a largearea electric supply network and the change in the company's performance.
Through the 1920's, the aim of the mergers of the TELC changed. In the beginning of 1920's, the firm consolidated the electric power companies that supplied the industrial areas of Tokyo and its surrounding environments. The purpose of these mergers was to secure access to the electric power demand from which growth was expected. Afterwards, because TELC urgently needed to increase its electric power capacity to meet the greater demand, the firm acquired electric power companies with large-scale hydroelectric power plants one after another. Subsequently, in the latter half of 1920's, when an oversupply of the electric power became strong, TELC merged with three electric power companies that owned wide supply districts.
Though the purpose of the mergers was different depending on time, the equipment and facilities obtained by TELC through the various mergers worked to expand the company's electric supply network. Toward this end, the company actively improved existing power lines and substations and built new ones in order to tie organically each power plant together. As a result, in the latter half of 1920's, achievements in cost reductions at each stage (transmission, transformation, delivery) of the supply of electric power were made possible due to progress made in the electric power ream system and through the possession of an advantageous supply district with a high customer-density.