Japanese power firm to suffer record loss

Japan's Kansai Electric Power said Thursday that it would incur a record net loss of 125 billion yen ($1.6 billion) for a year half period due to the impact of the nation's nuclear crisis.

The utility based in Osaka, western Japan, said the expected loss, from April to September, was mainly due to extra costs of fossil fuel as the company increased thermal power generation while most of its nuclear reactors remained idle.

Japan's electric power companies had shut down all nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdowns triggered by last year's massive tsunami and earthquake in northeastern Japan.

But Kansai resumed two reactors at its Oi power plant in July after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gave the green light to restart them amid concerns about looming power shortages.