OSAKA ¨C Retail power and gas heavyweights Kansai Electric Power, or Kepco, and Osaka Gas are locked in a struggle for dominance in the Kansai region ¡ª which includes Osaka, the nation¡¯s second-biggest city, and boasts an economy nearly the size of South Korea¡¯s.
After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the country¡¯s power monopoly system ¡ª in place for nearly 70 years ¡ª was partially dismantled in 2016, followed by the liberalization of the retail gas market a year later.
Hundreds of new power sellers soon arrived on the scene, some with just a few dozen accounts.
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