60% of new utilities object to helping pay Fukushima compensation via Japan Today

TOKYO —

More than 60% of major new entrants to the electric power industry object to the government’s plan for them to shoulder some of the compensation costs stemming from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, a Kyodo News survey shows.

Of the 44 utilities surveyed, 29 said the plan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry could have a negative impact on their businesses or prevent liberalization of the retail electricity market.

Last April, Japan freed up the retail electricity market, ending the decades-long monopoly of Japanese regional power companies. The new entrants are those that joined the industry after the liberalization of the market and are expected to promote competition, paving the way for lower electricity bills and new services.

But the ministry decided in November last year on a plan to let the utilities share the burden of the aftermath of the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, devastated by meltdowns triggered by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster.

Meanwhile, 70% of the new entrants said they were able to win customers as planned or even more. The survey shows that while the liberalization of the market has proceeded relatively smoothly, systematic problems remain.

[…]

TOKYO —

More than 60% of major new entrants to the electric power industry object to the government’s plan for them to shoulder some of the compensation costs stemming from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, a Kyodo News survey shows.

Of the 44 utilities surveyed, 29 said the plan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry could have a negative impact on their businesses or prevent liberalization of the retail electricity market.

Last April, Japan freed up the retail electricity market, ending the decades-long monopoly of Japanese regional power companies. The new entrants are those that joined the industry after the liberalization of the market and are expected to promote competition, paving the way for lower electricity bills and new services.

But the ministry decided in November last year on a plan to let the utilities share the burden of the aftermath of the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, devastated by meltdowns triggered by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster.

Meanwhile, 70% of the new entrants said they were able to win customers as planned or even more. The survey shows that while the liberalization of the market has proceeded relatively smoothly, systematic problems remain.

[…]

 

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