[에너지신문] 01 April 2016 - Japan opened its retail electricity market on 1 April 2016, ending the monopoly of the ten regional electricity companies.
More than 260 companies have been allowed to sell electricity on the US$70bn retail market, including city gas operators such as Tokyo Gas or new players such as trading group Marubeni or telecom group Softbank.
The Japanese government expects that this new competition will improve innovation and efficiency and cut prices, that are among the highest in the world. A price war has already started ahead of the market opening and the regional monopolies should suffer from this new competition, on top of financial difficulties related to nuclear shutdowns and high energy import costs. Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) has already anticipated competition (six regional utilities, Tokyo Gas and JX Holdings are targeting the Tokyo area and its 29 million customers) and lowered prices for some customers. Kansai Electric, the second largest utility, has excluded to cut prices as its plans to reopen two reactors at its Takahama nuclear plant were scrapped. According to industry officials, the market share of regional utilities will shrink and companies might have to merge to survive. Regional utilities will still control electricity grids and will be able to charge high fees for newcomers, as the unbundling of transmission and generation is not expected before 2020.
-http://www.enerdata.net/enerdatauk/press-and-publication/energy-news-001/japan-opens-its-electricity-market-and-ends-power-utilities-monopoly_36549.html