Being a subsidiary of Kyushu Electric Power Company (hereafter referred to as the Company), Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution, manages the information on customers including who have contracts with other retail electricity providers, a case was discovered in which an employee of the Company had accessed the information for other purposes, and the subsidiary received a report from the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission and Personal Information Protection Commission.

　By both the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission and the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Company has been requested to report on the circumstances and facts of this case before February 8, 2023 and February 3, 2023 respectively.

　The matter was discovered through an investigation, which was related to the case that retail customer information was placed in systems where it could be viewed by specified related entities other than general transmission and distribution operators. The investigation was requested by the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission to each general transmission and distribution operator on 27 December last year.

　Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution manages information from customers who phone in outages in the Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution supply area (seven prefectures in Kyushu) by a 'call center system'. In the event of large-scale supply disruptions such as typhoons, floods and earthquakes, the Company and Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution have established a cooperative system based on a business outsourcing agreement between the two companies in which the use of the call center system terminals can be used to respond to customer requests related to power outages, etc.

　The use of these terminals was limited to emergency disaster response only, however, during the current investigation it was found that employees of the Company and employees of the Company's subcontractors had accessed the system and viewed customer data outside emergency situations.

　We take this matter very seriously and offer our sincere apologies, as it is a matter that could pose a serious risk regarding customer data, which should be appropriately secured, and could also lead to loss of trust in fair competition among retail electricity providers.

　Kyushu Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution will immediately confirm the facts, investigate the cause and formulate measures to prevent recurrence, and investigate the use of other consignment business systems.