Japan on Friday night ended months of government-mandated electricity-saving, imposed for the first time in 37 years to battle power supply constraints amid the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Kyodo News reported.

Industry minister Yoshio Hachiro, thanking companies and citizens for their cooperation in saving electricity this summer, said he intends to avoid issuing a similar order again this winter but asked people to continue efforts to cut down on the use of electricity.

"Thanks to the great cooperation of citizens, and small and large-lot business users in saving electricity, we were able to avoid a (power) crunch," Hachiro said at a press conference.

He said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to complete its review of this summer's electricity supply-demand conditions by around October to make necessary preparations for the coming winter.

Under the government's mandatory power-saving order, issued July 1, large-lot users in the service areas of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) and Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506.TO) were required to reduce electricity consumption by 15% from a year earlier during peak usage hours on weekdays.

Citizens nationwide and large-lot users in other areas were also asked to save electricity voluntarily.

The power-saving efforts, together with a cooler-than-usual summer, led to a drop of more than 15% in power consumption in the two utilities' service areas, and prompted the government to lift the power-saving order earlier than scheduled.
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