Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start providing electricity to Yamada Denki Co.'s stores in the Kansai and Chubu regions in October, NHK reported Wednesday.
It will be the first time for Tepco to sell electricity outside the Kanto region and a part of Shizuoka Prefecture after the government liberalized electricity retail sales in 2000.
According to industrial sources, Tepco has signed a contract with electric appliances chain Yamada Denki to offer electricity to 62 of its stores through a subsidiary, NHK said.
Tepco will purchase electricity from nearby firms with in-house power generation facilities, it said.
Tepco has set a target of marking ¥170 billion out-of-region electricity sales 10 years from now, and is negotiating with other companies operating nationwide to provide them with electricity, telling them that signing a package deal will enable them to purchase electricity at lower rates, according to the report.
With the full liberalization of electricity retail sales scheduled in fiscal 2016, competition among electric power companies is expected to intensify. In June, a Chubu Electric Power Co. subsidiary announced that it will start selling electricity in the Tokyo metropolitan area through Diamond Power Corp., a small electricity supplier Chubu Electric acquired from Mitsubishi Corp.