The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has asked the finance minister for ¥521.9bn from the Middle East contingency reserve fund to pay for discounts on household and business electricity and city-gas bills this winter. The request document is dated November 12, 2026, and asks that approval be dated November 13. The request itself does not show that approval has been given or money paid out.
What the money covers
The request is for ¥521,875,491 thousand under the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy's energy supply-structure upgrading line. Of that, ¥520,961,290 thousand is a fixed-rate subsidy to private bodies for the bill-relief programme, and ¥914,201 thousand is a contract fee to a private body for screening and related work. The request gives the reason as the current surge in energy prices linked to the Middle East situation, and says winter-demand-season support is needed. It cites the 1954 cabinet decision on use of reserve funds.
METI's programme sheet lists the same project at ¥521.9bn (5,219 hundred million yen) from the fiscal 2026 reserve.
Three months, set discounts
The programme covers electricity and gas used from December 2026 to February 2027. METI says support starts one month earlier than last winter, and its stated aim is to ease burdens on households and businesses strained by higher prices.
The state sets a per-unit discount, and retailers that apply it to customers' bills according to usage are reimbursed. The sheet lists these rates:
| Category | December usage | January usage | February usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity, low-voltage contracts | ¥1.0/kWh | ¥4.5/kWh | ¥4.5/kWh |
| Electricity, high-voltage contracts | ¥0.5/kWh | ¥2.3/kWh | ¥2.3/kWh |
| City gas | ¥4.0/m3 | ¥18.0/m3 | ¥18.0/m3 |
The sheet describes the subsidy as fixed-rate and routed through retailers, with a private contractor acting as the programme secretariat.
What is still open
The documents do not say how many customers the discounts would reach or what they would take off a typical bill. They also do not say whether the reserve draw has been approved. The November 13 date in the request is the approval date METI asked for, not a confirmed decision.