* What: Japan utilities’ electricity output for March

* When: Tuesday, April 13, 0200 GMT

* Electricity output seen increasing for 4th straight month

* Rise due to rebound in industrial activity

By James Topham

TOKYO, April 2 (Reuters) – Japan’s electricity generation
probably rose 7.7 percent last month, the fastest year-on-year
increase in over 1-½ years, Reuters projections show, amid
stronger power demand from heavy industrial users.

Electricity demand is likely to continue rising in the first
half of the year compared with a year earlier, analysts said,
when power consumption tumbled as manufacturers cut production to
combat a slowdown triggered by the global financial crisis.

“With power demand from industrial users picking up, I think
we’re going to see firm demand on a year-on-year basis until
about June or July,” said Kaname Gokon, research manager at
broker Okato Shoji in Tokyo.

March data from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of
Japan, due on April 13, is expected to show the fourth straight
month of rises in power generation and the biggest gain since a
9.5 percent jump recorded in July 2008.

The expected rise comes after Japan’s 10 power firms
generated 80.02 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in
February, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier, when power output
plummeted by a record 15.8 percent for the month. [ID:nTOE62B00B]
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Last year’s recession hit power consumption hard, but as
demand for goods from emerging markets like China improves,
Japanese manufacturing activity has picked up, increasing power
usage from some of the archipelago’s heaviest users.

For the first quarter of 2010, electricity output rose 6.1
percent from a year earlier, Reuters projections showed, compared
with a 1.9 percent fall in the fourth quarter of 2009.

But such solid gains may not continue throughout 2010, as
economists forecast Japan’s economic growth to slow as the boost
from worldwide stimulus spending fades and the government cuts
public works spending.

Several Japanese power firms have said they expect only slow
to moderate growth for the current business year.

On Wednesday, Japan’s largest utility, Tokyo Electric Power
Co (TEPCO) (9501.T), projected sales to grow 1.9 percent in the
financial year that started on April 1, after an estimated 2.9
percent drop the previous year. [ID:nTOE62U07A]
(Editing by Chris Gallagher)