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Japan's power sector, which is currently dominated by near-monopolies, may soon undergo a huge electric system overhaul in an attempt to foster a sense of competition among retail energy providers and create a more reliable grid, Reuters reports.
According to the news source, a panel of experts assembled after the Fukushima disaster announced the potential reforms, which include "unbundling" each area utilities' stranglehold on electricity transmission and generation. This, the panel says, would create a booming retail power sector that would supply electricity to residential areas and other small users.
With the disaster – and the ensuing blackouts – still fresh in the minds of the Japanese, the panel said drastic measures need to be taken to prevent such an outage in the future.
"The 3/11 disaster called into question the sustainability of the long-existing electricity supply system," the draft proposal said.
Energy deregulation laws have existed in the U.S. for years, and have proven to help the competition among retail energy providers take off. States with such laws include Arizona, Delaware, Illinois and Maine, where several retail energy providers have cropped up.
