Kansai Electric Power executives approach cartel or non-aggression pact in sales
It is believed that an executive of Kansai Electric Power Co. at the time suggested to executives of major electric power companies such as Chugoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Company not to operate in each other's business areas due to the cartel problem of major electric power companies over the supply of power to companies. However, on the 25th, it was found in an interview with the person concerned. It is believed that the executives of each company signed a top-down “non-aggression” agreement for sales activities. The Japan Fair Trade Commission is urging the three major electric power companies to correct their violations of the Antimonopoly Act (unfair trade restrictions).
According to people involved, Kanden was the first company to step up its sales offensive in western Japan, where the cartels took place.
In 2017, Takahama Nuclear Power Station Units 3 and 4 (Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture), which had been shut down after the Great East Japan Earthquake, restarted operations.
In addition to the Kansai region, we have started full-scale retail sales in the "special high voltage" used in large-scale factories and office buildings, and the "high voltage" for companies and factories.
Price competition and competition for customers intensified, and the profit environment for electric power companies gradually deteriorated. According to people involved, KEPCO's top executives met with executives from each company around the fall of 2018. It is said that they told each other that they would withdraw from the other's jurisdiction and discussed with each other that they would stop conducting customer acquisition sales in the other's sales area.
Some companies appear to have denied in the FTC's investigation that there was a cartel agreement in these discussions.
Since April 2021, the JFTC has conducted on-site inspections at each company. It is said that KEPCO voluntarily reported violations based on the surcharge exemption system and cooperated with the FTC's investigation.
Penalties to be raised in stages to deter violations
The surcharge system based on the Anti-Monopoly Law was introduced in 1977 when the law was amended to deter illegal acts such as cartels and bid-rigging. When the system was first introduced, the calculation rate was 2% of sales subject to violations, but criticism continued that it was significantly lower than the international standard. manufacturing industry of large companies), etc. have been raised step by step.
In the 2019 revision of the law, the calculation rate by industry was abolished, and 10% was applied to all large companies. There is also a system that increases the penalty by 50% for repeated violations.
In many cases, such as bid rigging and cartels, agreements are made in secret, and it is difficult to collect evidence. In 2006, the JFTC introduced a "leniency" system that exempts or exempts companies that report violations from penalties to encourage the provision of information on violations. The revised Antimonopoly Act, which went into full effect in December 2020, introduced a mechanism to determine the deduction rate based on the degree of cooperation in investigations, in addition to the order in which violations were reported.
