I would like to again apologize to our customers for the considerable inconvenience and trouble this caused. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to them. Thanks to their understanding and cooperation, we were able to maintain a stable supply-and-demand balance.

The Kansai Electric Power Group intends to make maximum effort to maintain supply capacity for the stable supply of electric power this winter.

However, it is unknown when nuclear power plants that are currently offline will be put back into operation, so the power supply-and-demand situation is expected to be extremely challenging. We have therefore again asked customers for their help in conserving electricity this winter.

I sincerely apologize to customers for causing them inconvenience and trouble again after having done so this summer as well.

Though the situation surrounding the Group has become increasingly difficult, we will reaffirm the importance of our responsibilities as a provider of essential social infrastructure, redouble efforts to ensure the safety of nuclear power and recommence operations at plants that are currently offline. Above all, we will strive to restore the trust and confidence of the general public by doing everything possible to ensure safe and stable supplies of electricity.

To ensure the safety of nuclear power in particular, we will constantly and faithfully operate and maintain facilities and will promptly and thoroughly implement further measures to ensure safety in the event of an earthquake or tsunami based on the recent accident.

And, we will appropriately provide accurate information on these initiatives to earn the understanding of shareholders, investors, customers and local community members.