Agency for Natural Resources and Energy to revise operational guidelines for energy-saving ranking system
On February 10, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) proposed a review of the operational guidelines for the “Energy Conservation Communication Ranking System,” which rates the level of energy-saving information and services provided by electricity, city gas, and other retail energy suppliers on a five-point scale.
In addition to publicly disclosing the names of businesses whose rankings have improved regardless of their overall rating, feedback aimed at improving evaluations and the sharing of best practices will be enhanced, thereby encouraging greater proactive engagement from businesses.
The number of participants in the FY2025 ranking decreased by 10 from the previous year to 94 in electricity, by 18 to 67 in natural gas, and by 4 to 11 in LP gas. Increasing incentives for energy retailers to participate has become a key challenge. The ANRE presented proposed changes to the operational guidelines for FY2026 at the “Study Group on Energy-Saving Guidelines for Energy Retailers,” held on March 10.
The proposed new system includes changes such as compiling case studies for each evaluation category based on successful and improvement examples from past reports, and clearly identifying priority actions in the feedback materials provided to business operators. With regard to the publication of business operator names, the scope will be expanded to include not only those with high ratings, such as “five-star” ratings, but also all operators whose rankings have risen from the previous year.