The support bill, which is yet to be approved by parliament, will see the creation of a body to handle claims made against TEPCO and will be funded by public money as well as contributions from power companies. The government-devised aid plan for TEPCO will include the purchase of its corporate bonds, stocks and assets to support the company's operations, but analysts warned that uncertainty still surrounded the bill.

Bitter battles ahead

Under the plan, TEPCO would be required to eventually pay back all funds it received from the organization. But the bill's passage through parliament is expected to meet resistance over the idea of public support for the firm at the centre of the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago. We will aim to get the bill through parliament as early as possible," said Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda.

However,Prime Minister Naoto Kan's track record in winning lawmaker approval for his post-quake policies suggest a bitter parliamentary battle will ensue. Facing mounting pressure to step down, he has already failed to get several other disaster-related bills passed. The Mainichi newspaper reported that TEPCO will face a total of 10 trillion yen ($124 billion) in compensation claims and will have to raise its electricity charges by 16 percent from next year to cover the costs.

Streamlining plans

The company has come under fire for its response after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami on March 11 that crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, leading to reactor meltdowns. The disaster has prompted Japan to review plans to boost its use of atomic power as tens of thousands of people remain evacuated from homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre (12-mile) zone around and also beyond the radiation-spewing plant. Asia's biggest power company, TEPCO supplies electricity for the megacity of Tokyo and the wider Kanto region, an area that contributes more than a third of the nation's gross domestic product. TEPCO has said it would cut jobs and draft a streamlining plan this year as it looks to raise funds to pay a compensation bill that some analysts have estimated could run into tens of trillions of yen.

Reuters/AFP