By JUNICHI MIYAGAWA/ Staff Writer
April 17, 2023 at 19:02 JST
The main building of the industry ministry in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Major regional power companies have been ordered not to access customer information of new entrants into the electricity retailing market after they illicitly viewed such private information.
Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on April 17 ordered the five utilities to improve their business operations based on the Electricity Business Law.
The five utilities are Kansai Electric Power Co., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Kansai Transmission and Distribution Inc., Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Co.
The unauthorized viewing undermines the full liberalization of the electricity market, which came into force in 2016.
Until then, electricity sales had been monopolized by the 10 major electric power companies in charge of different regions. But since the liberalization, new entrants have been allowed to offer electricity to households.
To maintain a competitive environment between the major companies and new retail suppliers, the distribution and transmission divisions of the major companies were separated and became subsidiaries by 2020.
However, new entrants use those subsidiaries to deliver electricity to their customers.
That allows the subsidiaries to hold information such as names, addresses and the monthly electricity usage of customers who signed a contract with new suppliers. The major companies are not allowed to access such information.
However, seven of the 10 regional major companies are reported to have viewed the data.
The major utilities will submit a plan to improve their business operations, which stipulates measures to prevent a recurrence following the ministry's order.
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, which consists of the 10 major companies, announced a policy to introduce a “physical split,” which would block the accessing of customer information by the major utilities.
The industry ministry also is supporting similar preventative measures.
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