The trade and industry ministry plans to submit to the Diet a bill to liberalize the market for the retail sale of city gas to small-scale users such as households and shops. At present, some 200 city gas companies across the country enjoy regional monopolies under specific regulations. Consumers cannot choose their gas suppliers.
It is hoped that the reform will lower gas rates for consumers through competition, but safety concerns specific to the gas supply business should not be set aside in the push for liberalization.
The plan, which the ministry hopes will be implemented in 2017, will be a finishing touch to the gradual liberalization of the nation's city gas business, which started in 1995. At present, newcomers are allowed to enter the business of selling gas to large-scale users, such as factories, each of which consumes at least 100,000 cubic meters of city gas a year.
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