Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s president and chairman will forgo their salaries from August after the company was reprimanded by Japan's trade ministry for attempting to influence public opinion on nuclear power.
The two executives will receive no salary "for the time being," the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, at the same time it reported quarterly earnings. The company will hold a board meeting at a later date to discuss penalties for executives involved in the matter.
Kyushu Electric had its biggest quarterly loss in more than three years as fuel costs rose 11 percent and its Genkai reactors remained idled following the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima plant. The Fukuoka, Japan-based utility didn't give a full-year forecast, citing uncertainty over the future of nuclear power in Japan.
The utility's stock fell 3.3 percent today to 1,274 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo.
The company said it acted "unfairly" in trying to influence respondents to a television program discussing nuclear power. Kyushu Electric also said it will form a committee comprising independent members to look into the matter.
Kyushu Electric asked companies working for it to send e- mails backing the restart of two reactors at the company's Genkai plant in southwestern Japan to an online program sponsored by the government, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said earlier this month.
Kaieda, who was earlier urging authorities to agree to the restart, said so-called stress tests must be carried out on all reactors idled for maintenance before they go back online.
Kyushu Electric's loss widened to 8.2 billion yen ($106 million) in the three months ended June 30, from 6.5 billion yen a year earlier, Kyushu Electric said in a statement.
The company's operating loss, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, was 9.7 billion yen, compared with a gain a year earlier, even as sales rose 2.4 percent to 343.9 billion yen.
