Tokyo, June 23, 2014 - Rakuten, Inc. and Haseko Anesis Corporation (hereinafter “Haseko Anesis”) of the Haseko Group have agreed to offer Rakuten Anshin Payment Service to customers residing in apartments to which Haseko Anesis provides bulk high voltage electricity services (with some exceptions). Starting from this fall, customers will be able to pay their electricity bills over the Internet through Rakuten Anshin Payment Service, which is an online settlement service, and can also make payments using Rakuten Super Points.
The Bulk High Voltage Electricity Service for Apartments is a service that delivers electricity at a lower price by revising the electricity contracts between local electricity companies and apartment residents, changing them to high voltage contracts to receive bulk electricity for the apartment building as a whole. It has been gaining attention as an electricity service for ordinary households that comes ahead of the across-the-board liberalization of power retailing slated to take place in 2016. Haseko Anesis has already decided to supply this service to more than roughly 60,000 apartments. However, in order to differentiate its services from that of its other competitors and offer new value to tenants, it has decided to partner with Rakuten in order to develop unique new services that accommodate the needs of individual customers.
Rakuten Anshin Payment Service, which is currently scheduled to be introduced, is an online settlement service in which users can make payments with a credit card or Rakuten Super Points just by logging in with their Rakuten Member ID. Tenants residing in apartments can pay their monthly electricity fees from the dedicated page for apartments that have adopted the service. This initiative represents the first time that Rakuten Super Points have been applied to payments of electricity expenses within Japan.
The revised Electricity Business Act (which calls for across-the-board liberalization for entry into the power retail industry) has been enacted and led to the opening up of the low voltage electricity market, which is said to be valued at 7.5 trillion yen, owing to which electricity services will continue to grow more diverse in the future.
This recent partnership between the two companies has given customers a real feel for the added value to be gained from Rakuten Anshin Payment Service and Rakuten Super Points, and it is their aim to create a de facto standard when it comes to ways to settle payments for electricity-related services.
■ Rakuten, Inc.
Representative: Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani
Head Office Location: Shinagawa Seaside Rakuten Tower, 4-12-3 Higashi-shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
URL: https://global.rakuten.com/corp/
https://checkout.rakuten.co.jp/#explain (Rakuten Anshin Payment Service, Japanese only)
■ HASEKO ANESIS CORPORATION
Representative: Representative Director and President Minoru Nishino
Head Office Location: 2-32-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo
URL: http://www.haseko.co.jp/ha/ (Japanese only)