The daily average trading volume on the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), inaugurated last month as part of electricity market liberalization, is barely flickering, at only one-20th of its target.
Critics are blaming the major electric utilities, which sell their surplus electricity to startup suppliers but are also reluctant to lose customers.
The exchange was created by "power product suppliers" like Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Tokyo Gas Co. and 21 others, including the major established power companies, allowing other power companies to sell surplus power at cheap prices.