September 19, 2018 - Hokkaido Electric Power announced Wednesday morning that it restarted unit number one at the Tomatoh-Atsuma coal power plant after a two-day trial run.

The utility halted three generators at the plant after they were damaged by an earthquake on September sixth.

Tomato-Atsuma supplies half Hokkaido’s energy requirements.

With the power station up and running, Japan’s government and the utility withdrew a statement asking Hokkaido residents to use ten-percent less power.

But demand is high during the cold Hokkaido winter, so the utility is asking residents to conserve power as much as possible.