A private survey shows a record number of electricity suppliers in Japan have gone out of business this fiscal year. Soaring costs of liquefied natural gas and other imported fuel are cited as a major factor.

More than 700 companies were registered as power suppliers as of last April.

Credit research firm Teikoku Databank says 14 of them went bankrupt in the fiscal year that ends on Thursday. That is the most since 2016 when the market was fully liberalized.

Most of the new power suppliers do not have their own generating capability, but secure electricity on the wholesale market.

The research firm says those companies are finding it hard to pass on higher costs to their customers, as they attracted them with lower power fees. It says more businesses are likely to pull out of the energy supply market.