The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ordered each company to pay a record high surcharge of more than 1000 billion yen, alleging that Chugoku Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, and Kyushu Electric Power had formed a cartel with Kansai Electric Power over the sale of electricity to businesses, such as agreeing not to compete with Kansai Electric Power Co. for customers. Kansai Electric Power was exempted because it was the first to voluntarily report the violation.
Four companies were ordered to pay the surcharge:
Chugoku Electric Power,
Chubu Electric Power, its sales subsidiary
, and
Kyushu Electric Power.
According to the Japan Fair Trade Commission, each of the four companies has formed a cartel with Kansai Electric Power Co., and from 4 at the latest, they have agreed not to acquire customers in each other's business areas for "extra-high-voltage" power for large-scale factories and buildings, and "high-voltage" power for small and medium-sized factories and offices, and bids for power supply to government offices. They were restricting participation so that it would not become a competition.
According to previous research, in 4, the year after the full liberalization of the electricity retail market, Kansai Electric Power Co. began full-scale operations within the jurisdiction of other electric power companies, which led to discussions among executives.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has ordered the four companies to pay a record high surcharge of 2018 billion yen, and issued cease and desist orders to Chugoku Electric Power and others to prevent recurrence, alleging that the four companies violated the Antimonopoly Act by unfairly restricting competition.
On the other hand, Kansai Electric Power was exempt from the surcharge and did not receive a cease and desist order because it first voluntarily reported the violation before the investigation began.