Hokkaido Electric's '5% cheaper' bundle needed a monthly login to be worth it

Hokkaido Electric Power wanted households to switch their city gas from Hokkaido Gas and bundle it with electricity. In December 2020 and again from June to December 2021, leaflets slipped in with meter-reading slips ('Anata no Denki'), newspaper inserts and direct mail promised specific annual savings for making the switch: 'approx. ¥6,000 savings', 'approx. ¥20,000 savings', '5% cheaper'.

The numbers were padded with points. The advertised savings included the value of the Ene-Toku point plan — points that were only granted to customers who joined the point service, logged in every month and read a weekly column. Simply signing the bundle contract, as the ads implied, did not deliver the advertised benefit.

On 3 December 2024 the Consumer Affairs Agency issued a surcharge order: ¥33,980,000, calculated on ¥1,132,930,036 of supply transactions reached by the displays, payable by 4 July 2025. The ruling treats loyalty points as part of the price claim — if the saving needs effort to collect, the ad must say so.