Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura said that it is extremely regrettable that employees of a major electric power company illegally browsed the customer information of competitors owned by a subsidiary, and that it could undermine fair competition. I showed the idea to consider.
This issue revealed that employees of Kansai Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Kyushu Electric Power Co., and Shikoku Electric Power Co. had illegally viewed the customer information of competitors held by subsidiary power transmission and distribution companies. The Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission is requesting emergency inspections of companies engaged in power transmission, distribution and retail businesses nationwide.
Regarding this, Minister Nishimura said at a press conference after the cabinet meeting on the 23rd, ``Proper management of customer information and blocking of information from retailers are obligations under the Electricity Business Act, and are neutral, fair, and fair. This is the foundation. This incident could undermine fair competition and is extremely regrettable."
On top of that, he said, "Currently, we are collecting reports from related businesses, and at the same time, we are instructing other businesses to conduct emergency inspections of similar cases." I have given you an idea to consider.