In a sign of reforms to come, newcomers snap at heels of Japan's utilities


  • World
  • Sunday, 15 Sep 2013

An aerial view shows the Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and its contaminated water storage tanks (top) in Fukushima, in this photo taken by Kyodo August 31, 2013.REUTERS/Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Fukushima nuclear disaster is driving one of Japan's biggest industry overhauls since World War Two, as new, nimble suppliers take business from the big regional power monopolies, and manufacturers, from steelmakers to drinks firms, generate their own power and sell what they don't need.

The 10 powerful regional utilities, which still supply around 90 percent of Japan's electricity - even with the country's nuclear industry virtually idled since the 2011 disaster - are expected to be broken up into separate power generation and distribution companies anyway by 2020.

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