9905若木.ADP

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "9905若木.ADP"

あつみねことじ
5 years ago
Views:

1 Trends and Challenges on the Residential LPG Market - How to Survive As Consumers' Primary Energy Choice - Hideo WAKAKI, Economist, LPG and Regional Energy Analysis Group Summary Amid the underlying government's move toward energy deregulation, residential LPG has also been deregulated under the amended Liquefied Petroleum Gas Industry Law effective in April The amendment is expected to promoteade quate trading and competition of LPG. Given the deregulation of such alternative energies as town gas, electricity and oil, the residential energy field is becoming so competitive that some effects on the LPG market should be inevitable. With these in the background, this study examined the post-amendmentstate of the residential LPG market, and considered its prospects. LPG, as clean as LNG and highly evaluated for environmental reasons, is an important residential energy consumed by 25 million households, or about 55% of the whole households. With the establishment of its national stockpiling system well under way, LPG supply security is also improving. Yet, given stepped-up deregulation of the rivaling energies, LPG needs to increase its competitiveness in order to keep its position as the primary choice among the residential energy consumers. In recent years, the residential energy consumption mix has unveiled conspicuous shifts, largely to electricity. In the midst of the deregulation of town gas, electricity and oil, above all electricity is moving downward in price terms. If left intact, this could leave LPG alone high-priced among the residential energies. Then, the LPG Industry Law as amended in April 1997 helps facilitate deregulatory measures for residential LPG, such as the creation of ever-more competitive environment and greater transparency of trading. Among the deregulatory measures, the amended law requires LPG dealers to furnish their customers with "written documents" of trading in an effort to in crease transparency of transactions. This effort, still on the way, is expected to complete by March Meanwhile, despite eased conditions of entry, virtually few entrants have participated in the residential LPG market to date. This suggests the prompted competition remains temporary and limited. The application for "qualified dealers" has aroused just a slow reaction so far, and expectations are held for the days ahead. On security, the applicants for "qualified security organizations" have reached around one thirds by now. But, higher costs resulting from the installation and upgrading of security caused a falling number of LPG dealers and the bipolarization among them, with some outsourcing their security services to others. The new bulk supply system has not yet become popular, but still limited among leading wholesalers and others due to resultant cost increases, etc. To gain consumers' confidence, LPG dealers need to diversify their rating menu and increase corporate transparency, the latter by disclosing information of rating and service contents via a wide variety of media to a broad base of consumers. To be successful, the new bulk supply system requires the present high cost to be reviewed first. Further deregulation and additional supporting measures appear necessary as well. From now on, cost reductions are essential by virtue of an enhanced streamlining race among LPG dealers through, for example, in-front-of-house-supply to general households as an advanced version of the new bulk supply system. Consumer relations through omnibus proposals for living, etc. will become a matter of crucial importance as well. It is nothing but "consumers" who grip the key to the development of the residential LPG market ahead. (Full report will appear in the September 1999 issue of "Energy in Japan".)

(2) IPP Independent Power Producers IPP 1995 NCC(New Common Carrier NCC NTT NTT NCC NTT NTT IPP 2. IPP 2.1 1995 4 (3) [1] [2] IPP [2] IPP IPP [1] [2]

/ 1995 Grid Access Model 1. (1) 22 1998 12 11 2000-1- (2) IPP Independent Power Producers IPP 1995 NCC(New Common Carrier NCC NTT NTT NCC NTT NTT IPP 2. IPP 2.1 1995 4 (3) [1] [2] IPP [2] IPP IPP [1] [2]