[Translation from Japanese to English ] During the pre-WW II period, the widespread use of electric lamp had been qui...

Original text

戦前日本の郡部において電灯普及は急速に進展した。大規模発電所を中心とする都市型電力システムとは対照的に、多くの地域で、地元の水資源を活用した発電力100kw以下の小規模事業体による、いわば小規模分散型の電力システムが確立していた。ただし電気が普及していたとはいえ、その用途は照明に限定されていた。さらに需要家当たりの電灯数は２−４灯と、現在と比べると少なかった。この原因は当時電力使用量を基準とする従量料金が少なく、燭光数と取付数を基準とした定額料金が大勢を占めていたことにある。

Translation / English

During the pre-WW II period, the widespread use of electric lamp had been quickly increased in the rural district. In contrast to the large city oriented power generation systems centered on large scale power plants, many rural districts established small scale distributed power generation systems utilizing local water resources operated by small scale entities providing less than 100 kW power.
However, the use of such power was limited to the lighting though the widespread use of electricity. Moreover, the number of electric lamps per consumer was two to four lamps which were small number compared to that of those at present.
The reason of this was that the charge by consumption quantity had very small shares, but mainly it was the fixed charge based on the number of lamps and their wattage.

Translation / English

Prior to the Second World War, there was a rapid progress on electric lighting in rural areas of Japan. In contrast to the urban electricity system which was centered around large-scaled electric power plants, so-called "small-scaled distributed electricity systems" by small-scaled operators with generating capacity under 100kw utilizing local water resources were established in many areas. However, even though electricity was prevalent, use of electricity was limited to lighting purposes. Moreover, the number of lighting lamps per customer household was 2 to 4, low compared to the present day. It was because metered rates based on electricity usage were rare at that time, and flat rates based on the number of lighting lamps and fixtures were much more common.

Translation / English

Prior to the war, utilisation of electric lights in the Japanese county areas had spread rapidly. In contrast to the urban-typed electricity system that had been centralised around large electric generation plants, rather smaller sized distributive-typed electric systems that were ran by smaller sized organisations had established itself in numerous areas. Their system used the local water resources that had under 100 kw of power generation capacity. Although electricity was widely spread, its usage was limited specifically for general lighting. Moreover, the number of electric lights needed by its users were from 2 to 4 light bulbs, which was much lower compared to those of today. This was because back then when the meter-rate charges based on the electricity usage were much cheaper whereas the flat-rate charges based on the number of its candlepower and its attachment were taking up its majority.