Electricity prices in Japan have risen to nine-month highs this week as gains in global prices of oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal are starting to feed through to the country¡¯s $150 billion power market.

Energy prices across the world are hitting records or multi-year highs as economies from Europe to Asia recover from the pandemic but are facing lingering supply chain and other disruptions.

For Japan, which imports all but a tiny amount of its energy needs, higher oil, gas and coal prices are bringing back inflation, with wholesale prices at 13-year highs.

Elevated electricity prices are also reviving memories of last winter when prices hit record highs and Japan¡¯s grid nearly failed in the worst energy crisis for the country since the Fukushima disaster.

On Tuesday, spot prices for peak hour delivery of electricity reached ?50 ($0.44) per kilowatt hour (kWh), just shy of ?50.01 per kWh, hit the day before, which was the highest since January.

¡°We are seeing thermal generation being offered to the market at increasingly higher prices to either preserve fuel for winter or get paid for it on an opportunity-cost basis,¡± said one trader.

Like last winter, rising costs for LNG and coal are driving the gains in prices and, with colder temperatures just weeks away, Japan¡¯s big utilities have been taking steps to avert a similar crisis.

Inventories of LNG have been topped up and are now above 2.4 million tonnes, around 600,000 tonnes higher than the four-year average for this time of the year, Japan¡¯s industry ministry said.

That represents about 12 days supply based on last year¡¯s imports of 74.4 million tonnes of LNG.

¡°Japan learnt its lesson from the blackouts last year and started stockpiling quite early for this winter,¡± said an LNG trader.