The Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Fair Trade Commission have released joint guidelines to regulate nonutility firms as they enter the nation's electric power retail market. The move is in line with the revised Electricity Enterprise Act, which will take effect March 21. Under the revised regulations announced Monday, nonpower firms can provide major users with high-voltage electricity through power lines owned by utilities. Power companies are to notify MITI by Jan. 4 of the consignment fees they intend to impose on the firms that are to use their power lines, according to the revised law. The guideline, the first of its kind drawn up jointly by MITI and the FTC, aims to ensure fair competition between new entrants and conventional utilities. It prohibits, for instance, utilities from offering unfairly low prices exclusively for firms that are negotiating with new entrants, a practice that would effectively bar newcomers to the market.