The order came after Tokyo Electric Power requested ¥689.4 billion, or $8.8 billion, in government aid to help pay for its response to the nuclear accident at its Fukushima site. The calamity, caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and led to a massive radiation leak.

The utility may have to pay ¥4.5 trillion in compensation payments by 2013, a government panel said in October, a sum that threatens to render the company insolvent.

The company will also most likely be forced to decommission all six nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi at a huge cost, while the future of four other reactors at a second site is also on the line after a national outcry over the disaster.

Meeting with Tokyo Electric executives Tuesday, the Japanese trade minister, Yukio Edano, urged the utility to consider options including ceding control to the government.

Tokyo Electric “should not exclude various possibilities, including temporary state control” in coming up with a comprehensive turnaround plan, promised for next spring, Mr. Edano said. He asked the utility “to work toward restoring a company in 5 to 10 years that can win back public trust.”

Still, it remains unclear whether the government will force changes that experts have long called for at Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, like sweeping changes to management or a breakup of the monopoly the utility enjoys over electricity generation and distribution in the Tokyo area.

The details of a possible government takeover also remain murky.

A new government-backed fund may buy preferred stock in Tokyo Electric, effectively nationalizing the utility to avoid insolvency, the Yomiuri newspaper reported this month.

The government may ask banks to lend ¥1 trillion to the company, Yomiuri said.

Mr. Edano refused to comment on details, saying nothing had been decided.

Tokyo Electric has already been granted initial funding of about ¥900 billion from the government-backed fund to help compensate victims. The fund is financed with taxpayers’ money, as well as from contributions from major electricity companies in Japan. In theory, Tokyo Electric would repay any money it receives.

Tokyo Electric’s president, Toshio Nishizawa, said the company would seriously consider various possibilities for the company. The company wanted to ensure that it “never let such an accident happen again,” he said.

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