Deregulation in Japanese gas industries : significance and problems of gas rate deregulation for large industrial customers

Abstract

In recent years, the circumstances surrounding Japanese City gas industries have been changing drastically. On one hand, as energy suppliers, natural gas which has become major fuel resource for city gas, as public utilities, a new theory of economics and the economic reform process are requesting the new regulatory framework instead of traditional one. Under such recognition, this study has three major purposes. The first purpose is to consider the significance of city gas deregulation in the context of drastic change in energy policy and in public utility regulation. The second is to discuss the expected advantages and noted point of rate deregulation for large industrial customers. The third purpose is to think about the implications from the US experience of deregulation in natural gas industry since 1970's.