Electricity, Gas and Water Setup in Japan: A Practical Guide for New Arrivals

Most people arriving in Japan expect the utilities to be the easy part of moving in. Two of the three usually are. The third catches almost everybody.

Electricity and water behave much as they do elsewhere: tell the provider your address and start date, and the supply is there. City gas does not. Before gas flows into your apartment a technician has to come inside, open the meter valve, check for leaks and confirm that your appliances ignite — and someone has to be at home while that happens. Miss that appointment and you have no hot water and no cooker until the next free slot, which in late March can be days away.

This guide covers all three services in the order you should handle them, using procedures published by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the utilities themselves as they stood in mid-2026. Electricity and city gas retail are open to competition nationwide; water is run municipality by municipality.

The One Rule That Matters: Gas Needs You There

Tokyo Gas states that attendance is required when gas use begins, and that the visit involves confirming ignition and explaining safety points inside your home. Osaka Gas describes the same visit in more detail: a technician arrives at the date and time you booked, the work takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes, and because a gas leak check and an ignition check are carried out inside the residence, attendance is mandatory. TEPCO Energy Partner, which also sells city gas, states that if you cannot be present, gas use cannot begin, and that there is no charge for the work.

The one flexibility is who stands there. Tokyo Gas states that where the resident cannot attend, a proxy who can receive the company's explanation — a building manager or landlord — may attend instead. Agree that when you book, not on the day.

Electricity is the opposite. Tokyo Gas states that no attendance is needed to start or stop electricity, and TEPCO Energy Partner's instruction is simply to switch the breaker on once the agreed start date arrives. One exception: at buildings with auto-lock entrances, the distribution utility or the retailer may call to ask for someone to be present.

What Every Provider Will Ask You For

The published application lists for gas, electricity and water do not ask for a residence card, a personal seal or a Japanese guarantor. What they ask for is information, and having it ready turns three phone calls into a fifteen-minute job.

Tokyo Gas lists what a start-of-use application needs: the contract holder's name, the address, the type of building, the desired start date, a phone number that will reach you after the move, and your payment method. To close an account at an old address it also wants your customer number and the stop date. Osaka Gas asks for much the same, plus your preferred visiting time slot and whether you have gas appliances.

• The address, in full. Building name and room number are part of a Japanese address, not optional extras. TEPCO Energy Partner warns that if the place of use cannot be identified from what you entered, the distribution utility may have to visit to confirm.
• A phone number that works on the day. Gas companies use it when a technician is delayed or cannot get into the building.

Electricity: Choosing a Retailer, Then Switching On

Japan opened electricity retail to full competition on 1 April 2016. Before that, households and shops could buy only from the incumbent utility for their region, at prices fixed by a statutory method. Since then, as the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy puts it, all consumers can choose their company and tariff freely.

One point that surprises people: the agency states that even temporary use of electricity, in a vacant rental unit for instance, requires a contract with a retailer.

Switching an existing supply takes time. Tokyo Gas states that a switch to its electricity takes effect from the next meter reading date after the procedure completes, normally about one to two months. Where there is no smart meter yet, the switch in principle follows the meter replacement, which the general transmission and distribution utility carries out free of charge in principle, normally without a power cut or attendance.

What Is Actually on an Electricity Bill

A Japanese electricity bill has more parts than a single unit price, and two of them move. The base structure in eastern Japan is an amperage contract. On TEPCO Energy Partner's Standard S plan for the Kanto area, the contract is set by an ampere breaker or a current-limiting meter in a range from 10 A to 60 A, and the basic charge is 311.75 yen including tax per 10 A — so a 15 A contract costs 467.63 yen. Energy charges are tiered: 29.80 yen per kWh up to 120 kWh, 36.40 yen from 121 to 300 kWh and 40.49 yen above 300 kWh, with a minimum monthly charge of 328.08 yen per contract.

You do not pick the amperage at move-in: TEPCO Energy Partner states that the contract capacity is that of the equipment already installed, and that customers wanting a different amperage should apply after the contract is complete.

For fiscal 2026 the ministry set the levy at 4.18 yen per kWh, applied from the May 2026 meter reading through to the April 2027 meter reading. For a model household using 400 kWh a month that is 1,672 yen a month, or 20,064 yen a year, and the unit price is the same across the country.

The fuel adjustment contains a trap. TEPCO Energy Partner states that regulated tariffs have an upper limit on the fuel adjustment unit price while its liberalised plans do not; on its own Standard S 30 A, 260 kWh model for Kanto, the January 2023 bill came to around 1.4 times what it would have been without the adjustment. City gas has an equivalent mechanism, the raw material cost adjustment, recalculated monthly from trade-statistics prices for LNG and LPG. When a liberalised plan looks cheap, check whether the adjustment is capped.

Three Kinds of Gas, and Which One You Have

Households in Japan receive gas in three different forms, which the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy sets out as follows.

The agency's account of the 2017 reform also spells out what did not change. New entrants sell gas through the existing mains, so consumers can pick a company and a tariff — but periodic safety inspections and emergency response continue exactly as before whichever retailer you choose, the gas quality is identical, and switching requires no new pipes.

To change city gas retailer, the agency says to contact the company you are switching to. Moving from an all-electric home or from LP gas, you must also contact the previous supplier, and switching away from LP gas may require pipework. Where both companies use the switching system the change takes effect from the regular meter reading day on or after the fifth business day; otherwise, ask the incoming retailer.

Whether that choice is practically open to you as a tenant is another matter. In a rented apartment the installation and supply arrangements were set at building level before you arrived, so start with the landlord or management company.

Booking the Gas Appointment

Because the appointment is the bottleneck, book it first — before the removal van, if you can. Tokyo Gas recommends applying about one week before the start date and accepts web applications from two months before a move. Its web form is open 24 hours; its phone lines run 9:00 to 19:00 Monday to Saturday and 9:00 to 17:00 on Sundays and public holidays. At the fastest, a web application submitted by 7:30 can be visited the same afternoon, and one submitted by 18:00 the following morning.

Slots and lead times are set by each gas company and area, so read the table as the shape of the process rather than a national standard. Tokyo Gas notes that the date, time and attending person can be changed after you apply.

Seasonality is what really hurts. Tokyo Gas lists its congested periods: early March to early April, around Golden Week, the end and beginning of each month, the end of September and the end of December. Japan's moving season concentrates around the start of the fiscal year in April — exactly when new arrivals on April start dates are moving in.

Appliances: Gas Type and Electrical Frequency

This is where a well-meant gift from home, or a bargain from a second-hand shop in another city, becomes an expensive mistake. Japanese city gas is graded by type, and appliances are built for a specific grade. Osaka Gas supplies city gas of type 13A with a standard calorific value of 45 MJ (about 10,750 kcal) and instructs customers to use appliances compatible with 13A. City gas appliances and LP gas appliances are not interchangeable at all.

Electrical frequency is the second trap. Japan does not run on a single grid frequency, and utilities treat the difference as an operational issue: Osaka Gas warns that gas appliances designed exclusively for 50 hertz electricity need parts replaced in its supply area, and tells customers to check the compatible gas type and frequency in the manual or on the nameplate attached to the appliance. The geography behind the split shows up in service boundaries — TEPCO Energy Partner defines its Standard plan area as Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo excluding the islands, Kanagawa, Yamanashi and the part of Shizuoka east of the Fuji River.

The rule is simple: read the nameplate before moving or buying any gas appliance. Tokyo Gas also notes that where its technician finds no appliance matching a special tariff at the opening visit, the standard tariff applies by default.

Water: A Municipal Service, Not a Market

Water is the odd one out. There is no retail competition and no company to choose; supply is run by the local authority, and the tariff, the application route and the billing cycle are all set locally. Anything you read about "how water works in Japan" describes one municipality.

Tokyo shows how uneven the picture is. The Bureau of Waterworks of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government handles the 23 wards and 26 cities and towns in the Tama area, but explicitly excludes Musashino City, Akishima City, Hamura City, Hinohara Village and the island communities, whose residents are told to contact their own municipality.

Within the bureau's area the procedure is straightforward. Applications to start or stop use, contract changes and billing enquiries go through the Waterworks Customer Centre on 0570-091-100, or 03-5326-1101 for the wards and 042-548-5110 for Tama. It is open 8:30 to 20:00 daily except Sundays and public holidays, with leaks and other emergencies handled 24 hours a day. For fax applications the bureau asks for at least three days' notice. It promotes its own app for moving procedures and for registering direct debit or credit card payment, and warns that lines are extremely busy in March and April.

Billing in Tokyo runs on a two-month cycle, with water and sewerage charges billed together, and payment by direct debit, credit card, the app or an invoice. Existing customers are asked to have the customer number from their meter-reading notice ready before calling; the bureau may not be able to help without it.

Anywhere in Japan the approach is the same: find your municipality's waterworks bureau online, look for the start-of-use page, and apply a few days before you move in.

Paying: Methods, Fees and Missed Bills

Direct debit from a Japanese bank account and credit card are the standard options across all three services. Payment by invoice is usually available too, and is the fallback for people who have not yet opened a bank account.

Paper now has a price. TEPCO Energy Partner charges 110 yen a month including tax for a paper meter-reading and billing notice on its newer plans, and 220 yen a month including tax as an issuance fee for payment by transfer slip. If you can read your bill on a screen, do.

Terms change too. Tokyo Gas has published notice of a revision effective 1 October 2026 covering a review of gas charges and of the payment-slip issuance fee, and government subsidy programmes discounting gas and electricity charges have appeared on utility sites in recent years. These are temporary, so read the notices on your own provider's site.

If a dispute arises, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy sets out the path for electricity: retailers are under a duty to deal properly with customer enquiries, so start there, and the consultation desk of the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission is available as a further step.

A Timeline That Works

Putting the published lead times together produces a workable schedule. Adjust it to your own providers, because the figures come from specific companies and one municipality.

• Up to two months before — apply for gas online. Tokyo Gas accepts web applications from two months out, and booking early is the single most effective thing you can do for a spring move.
• About one week before — confirm electricity and gas, with the full address, start date and a working phone number ready.
• At least three days before — apply for water; other municipalities set their own notice periods.
• Moving-in day, gas — be home for the slot; allow 15 to 20 minutes. Plan the removal van around the gas slot, not the other way round.
• Moving-in day, electricity — switch the breaker on, but only from the agreed start date. TEPCO Energy Partner asks that heat-producing appliances such as hairdryers be off at that moment.
• Once settled — revisit amperage and tariffs, once you know what your household actually consumes.

Tokyo Gas also offers a free service to submit an NHK address change or new contract alongside your gas and electricity procedures.

Closing the Accounts When You Leave

Leaving mirrors arriving, with one reversal: gas is easier to stop than to start. Osaka Gas describes the closing work as taking around five minutes, and states that attendance may be required where the building has an auto-lock entrance or the meter is inside the residence. Tokyo Gas says the same, notes that a proxy such as the building manager is acceptable, and points out that you can keep using gas until the technician closes the meter valve. For electricity, TEPCO Energy Partner asks that the breaker be switched off when you move out, and again warns that attendance may be requested at auto-lock buildings.

Final charges are settled from a reading taken on the termination date, and Osaka Gas states that customers who give a forwarding address receive the final payment slip there. One trap: TEPCO Energy Partner states that where you hold more than one electricity contract, each needs its own stop application.

Frequently Asked Questions