Membership of New Electricity Trading Monitoring Committee Tentatively Decided

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On August 7, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) tentatively appointed five members to the electricity trading monitoring committee to be established under the Amended Electricity Business Act (the second stage). The effective date of the amended act had been decided by the Cabinet in June.

Named chairperson was President Tatsuo Hatta of the International Center for the Study of East Asia Development. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy’s Electricity System Reform Special Committee.

The other newly-appointed members are Ryuichi Inagaki, a lawyer, Professor Yasuhiro Hayashi of the School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Waseda University, Managing Director Masanori Maruo of SMBC Nikko Securities, and Emiko Minowa, a public accountant.

The creation of the committee — an organization vested with powerful authority, and directly controlled by METI — is authorized by Article 8 of the National Government Organization Law. In anticipation of full retail competition in Japan’s power market from April 2016, the committee is expected to convene for the first time on September 1.

The committee will monitor the appropriateness of trading in anticipation of full retail competition in the power market, and strictly enforce rules of conduct in order to ensure neutrality within the country’s electric power network sector.