Chubu Electric Power Co. has hired former ABN Amro Holding NV banker Masanori Tsuchiya to hedge against price swings that helped trigger its first loss in 30 years.

Tsuchiya, 41, joined the utility in August to help manage risk arising from fluctuations in oil, liquefied natural gas and coal prices, Daisuke Kito, a spokesman, said Thursday. Chubu, Japan's second-biggest buyer of coal and natural gas for power stations, may add more people.

Chubu Electric joins Electric Power Development Co., the country's biggest coal user, known as J-Power, in hiring bankers to shield them from price volatility that contributed to a loss for Chubu Electric and a decline in profit for J-Power in the year that ended March 31.

Tsuchiya spent four years at ABN Amro's Japan unit, where he led a trading risk-management division, after a four-year stint at Mizuho Securities Co., he said in Nagoya Thursday.

"Crazy spikes in commodities prices in the last couple of years heightened the awareness of the need for risk-hedging among Japanese utilities," said Tomohiro Jikihara, an analyst at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo. "Chubu is taking action, and others will likely follow suit," Jikihara said.

The utility has been spending an extra ¥400 million a day to buy fuel for thermal generation after an earthquake in Shizuoka Prefecture and its vicinity Aug. 11 forced it to halt the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, the company's sole atomic station.

Chubu Electric posted a loss of ¥19 billion last business year, the first deficit since 1979, as fuel costs rose 4 percent to ¥34.5 billion, and after booking a special charge for scrapping two outmoded nuclear reactors, the company said April 28. About 72 percent of output last year came from oil-, coal- and LNG-fired generators.