Tokyo: Japan's ten utilities consumed just under a third more natural gas in March than a year earlier to generate electricity, compensating for a record low rate of nuclear plant use, industry data showed yesterday.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sparked by last March's earthquake and tsunami has shredded public faith in atomic power and prevented the restart of reactors shut for routine checks, with just one of 54 now online.

Nuclear power accounted for about 30 per cent of Japan's electricity demand before the Fukushima crisis.

The utilities burnt 5.04 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) equivalent last month compared with 3.82 million tonnes a year earlier, data from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan showed. That marked the second highest gas consumption after a record 5.23 million tonnes in January 2012.

In the previous fiscal year ended in March, the utilities used a record 52.89 million tonnes equivalent of LNG, topping the previous record by more than 10 million tonnes. They generated 81.89 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in March, up 1.3 per cent from a year earlier, matching a Reuters projection.

Oil use has also jumped. Consumption of fuel oil and direct-burn crude totalled 23.4 million kilolitres (147.1 million barrels) in 2011-12, more than double the 11.1 million kl a year ago. Trade Minister Yukio Edano on Sunday said Japan's nuclear plant utilisation was likely to fall to zero temporarily from May 6, a day after the last active reactor, Tomari No 3 unit operated by Hokkaido Electric Power Co, begins scheduled checks, media reports said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and other ministers on Friday declared the two idled reactors, the No 3 and No 4 units at Kansai Electric Power's Ohi plant, safe to restart to avoid a summer power crunch. But the government needs local governments' approval for a restart, which will take time.

That would mark the first nuclear power-free day in Japan since the five days ended on May 4, 1970, when the two reactors then existing were both shut for maintenance, a federation official said.

Japan's nuclear power plant utilisation rate for 10 utilities with reactors fell to a record low 4.2 per cent in March from 58.3 per cent a year earlier and is set to fall further this month.