Management and Regulation of the Electric Power Industry(1923-1935)

Takeo Kikkawa

doi:10.5029/jrbh1984.3.82

Takeo Kikkawa

著者情報

ジャーナルフリー

1987 年 3 巻 p. 82-102

DOI https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh1984.3.82

詳細

Published: 1987/03/15 Received: - Available on J-STAGE: 2010/06/28 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
訂正情報
訂正日: 2010/06/28 訂正理由: - 訂正箇所: 引用文献情報訂正内容: Right : 1)Tokyo Dento,the first electric power company in Japan,was established in1883.The evolution of the electric power industry in the100or so years since then can be roughly divided into four periods:1)the formative period up to the first world war;2)the era of the five majors during the interwar years;3)the period of state control of the electric power industry from1939to1950;4)the era of the nine private power companies after the reorganization of the electric power industry in1951.The main focus of this essay will be the second period,but an attempt will be made to give a perspective on the third and fourth periods as well.
2)A cartel-type organization formed by the five major electric power companies in April1932.
3)Advocates of this position include such people as Harumi Matclichima Mamoru Takahashi,and Masako Sakamoto.
4)Mamoru Takahashi,“Denryoku Kokka Kanri no Katei”(State Management and the Electric Power Industry),Seikei Ronso(The Journal of Political Science and Economics of Hiroshima University),Vol.XXII,No.2(1972),p.205
5)The Electric Industry Law(Denki Jigyoho)was enacted in1911as the fundamental law governing the electric power industry.Major revisions were made to this law in 1931.
6)cf.Takeo Kikkawa,“Denryoku Renmei”(The League of Electric Power Companies)in Juro Hashimoto and Haruhito Takeda,eds.Ryotaisenkanki Nippon no Karuteru(Cartels in Interwar Japan),Ochanomizu-Shobo,1985
7)Harumi Matsushima is perhaps a good example of this tendency which bases itself on this type of popular interpretation.
8)cf.Takeo Kikkawa,“Senzenki Mitsui Ginko no Denryoku Kinyu”(Mitsui Bank Financing of the Electric Power Industry Prior to World War II),in Shakai Keizai Shigaku(Socioeconomic History),Vol.47,No.1(1981);also“Godai Denryoku to Denryoku Gaisai”(The Big Five Electric Power Companies and Foreign Bonds),Tochi Seido Shigaku(The Journal of Agrarian History),Vol.XXIV,No.4(1982);and“Mitsui Ginko to Tokyo Dento,Toho Denryoku”(Mitsui Bank and Tokyo Electric Light Co.,Toho Electric Power Co.),in Keiei Shigaku(Japan Business History Review),Vol.17,No.2(1982);also“Denryoku Renmei to Denki Iinkai”(The League of Electric Power Companies and the Committee on Electricity),in Shakai Keizai Shigaku(Socioeconomic History),Vol.48,No.4(1982)
9)Because Tokyo Dento was the largest electric power company at the time,Wakao's“loose management”practices attracted public scrutiny.
10)In actuality Mitsui Bank's intervention in the affairs of Tokyo Dento was not a scheme to take over the management of the power industry but was a temporary measure to secure their claims.
11)This essay does not deal directly with the behavior of electric power industry managers in the debate on state control which took place after March1936.I intend to closely examine this question at another time.
12)Yasuzaemon Matsunaga,“Denki Jigyo ni Tsuite”(On the Electric Power Industry),in Denki Koron(Electricity),Vol.17,No.10(1933),p.479
13)Yasuzaemon Matsunaga,“Denki Jigyo”(The Electric Power Industry),in Shakai Keizai Taikei(The Socioeconomic System),Vol.9(1927),D.393
14)None of these plans ever came to fruition.
15)An outline of Denryoku Tosei Shiken is provided in Toho Denryoku Shi(A History of Toho Electric Power Co.),(1962),p.542
16)In regard to the competition among electric power companies,Matsunaga believed it would result in a lowering of power rates in the short term but an increase in generating costs in the long term due to a surnlus of facilities.
17)cf.Yasuzaemon Matsunaga,Watashi No Rirekisho(My Life Story)Vol.7,Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha,(1970),pp.406-7.
18)It was because of this that Matsunaga played such a leading role in the postwar reorganization of the electric power industry.
19)W.S.Murray et al,A Superpower System for the Region between Boston and Washington,Washington,1921.
20)Other Toho Denryoku executives besides Matsunaga developed positions on industry regulation which resembled Matsunaga's views.Toho Denryoku's representative on the Temporary Bureau to Investigate the Electric Industry also called for the implementation of controls based on Denryoku Tosei Shiken at bureau sessions.
21)cf.Ichizo Kobayashi“Denryoku Tosei no Genei”(A Vision for Regulating the Electric Power Industry),Keizai Orai(Economic Intercourse),January 1930
22)While friends on a personal level,Matsunaga and Fukuzawa took opposite positions on the issue of controls.In short,Matsunaga promoted private ownership and joint use of hydro and thermal power while Fukuzawa emphasized nationalization with priority on hydro development.
23)Yasuzaemon Matsunaga,Denki Jigyo(The Electric Power Industry),Nippon Hyoronsha,1929,p.106
24)Kobayashi,op.cit.,p.176
25)Kobayashi was originally a manager in the electric-rail business.
26)The operational bases for the various companies is as follows:Tokyo Dento was in the Kanto region;Toho Denryoku was in the Chukyo and North Kyushu regions;Ujigawa Denki,Daido Denryoku,Nippon Denryoku and Kyoto Dento were in the Kansai area.
27)Yasushige Hayashi,“Denki Toseijo yori Mitaru Denki Jigyo no Taikei”(The Electric Power Industry Structure from the Regulative Viewpoint)in Asu no Denki Jigyo(The Electric Power Industry of Tomorrow),Denki Shinposha,1931,p.21
28)Senzaburo Kageyama,“Showa7nen no Denki Jigyokai”(The Electric Power Industry in1932),in Denki Keizai Jiron(The Journal of Electric Economics),January1932,p.19
29)Retailers at the time used the polemic for reductions in power rates to try and get major price cuts in power purchases from wholesalers.
30)For example Miyagawa from Toho Denryoku participated as a member of LEPC's committee specializing in planning power generation which rejected Matsunaga's proposal for a thermal power regulatory company.
31)For a broad perspective on research into state control of the electric power industry,see Takeo Kikkawa“Denryoku Kokka Kanri Kenkyu no Shin Shikaku”(New Insights on Research of State Control of the Electric Power Industry in Japan),in Aoyama Keiei Ronshu(Aoyama Journal of Business),Vol.19No.4(1985)

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