UPDATE 1-Japan's hotter weather to boost power demand

(Recasts lead, adds details, table)
TOKYO, May 24 (Reuters) - Western Japan will see normal to
hotter weather from June to August, the country's weather
forecaster said on Thursday, boosting demand for power at a time
when the area's users are being urged to cut consumption as
nuclear power plants lay idle.
Power demand is in focus as nuclear power generation has
fallen gradually to zero since last year's devastating
earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant, 240 km north of Tokyo, causing the worst nuclear disaster
since Chernobyl in 1986. The risk has forced the government to
review its energy policy and nuclear safety guidelines.
The rest of the country will see mostly average weather for
the period, the Japan Meteorological Agency also said on
Thursday in its three-month forecast, issued monthly.
Japan's electricity demand usually peaks in summer due to
air conditioning use.
All of the country's 50 nuclear reactors are offline for
maintenance checks, and with the public wary of restarts due to
safety concerns, the gap is being met by firing up costly fossil
fuel facilities and through energy-saving steps.
The government last week asked for at least 15 percent power
cuts in Osaka and surrounding areas this summer from 2010
levels, and by a lesser extent in other regions in the west to
cope with shortages, but stopped short of the mandatory cuts
seen on large users in the east last year.
Osaka-based Kansai Electric Power Co is the most
nuclear reliant utility in Japan.
The summer of 2010 was unusually hot, with northern and
eastern Japan both marking the highest temperatures on average
between June and August since 1946.
Nationwide power demand peaked at 906.4 billion kilowatt
hours in the year to March 2011, up 5.6 percent from 2009/2010,
before falling 5.1 percent year-on-year in 2011/2012, data from
Japan's 10 regional power utilities show.
The following table gives the temperature forecast for the
coming months in terms of the percentage below average, average
or above average (previous forecasts in parentheses):
Forecasts for Northern Japan
BELOW AVERAGE ABOVE
June-Aug 30 40 30
June 30 (20) 40 (40) 30 (40)
July 30 (30) 40 (40) 30 (30)
Aug 40 30 30

Forecast for Eastern Japan
BELOW AVERAGE ABOVE
June-Aug 30 40 30
June 30 (20) 40 (40) 30 (40)
July 30 (30) 40 (40) 30 (30)
Aug 30 40 30

Forecast for Western Japan
BELOW AVERAGE ABOVE
June-Aug 20 40 40
June 30 (20) 40 (40) 30 (40)
July 30 (30) 30 (30) 40 (40)
Aug 20 40 40

Forecast for Okinawa, Amami Islands
BELOW AVERAGE ABOVE
June-Aug 20 40 40
June 30 (30) 40 (30) 30 (40)
July 30 (30) 30 (40) 40 (30)
Aug 20 40 40

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)