NAGOYA — Major Japanese electric companies are seeking to diversify their sources of profits through the use of power transmission and distribution networks, including steel towers and electric poles.

The major companies face sluggish domestic demand reflecting widespread electricity saving and customer loss following the April 2016 full liberalization of the electricity retail market.

In June 2018, TEPCO Ventures Inc., a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., conducted a joint demonstration experiment with online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. and map maker Zenrin Co. to deliver goods by flying a drone using transmission towers as waypoints.

Transmission towers have no obstacles directly above them, and the possibility that manned airplanes fly nearby is low, a TEPCO Ventures official said.

TEPCO Ventures aims to start by the end of March 2020 a service to deliver goods on a regular basis to houses in mountain areas and other places where transportation by land is inconvenient.

Last month, Kansai Electric Power Co. carried out a joint demonstration test mainly with the Japan Research Institute to conduct artificial intelligence-based analysis of images captured by cameras installed on utility poles.

They hope to develop a system to provide self-driving cars with information about vehicles in their blind spots in order to prevent accidents.

Chubu Electric Power Co. is soliciting local municipalities to equip utility poles with security cameras for crime prevention.

The monitoring service is subject to fees. But the number of those using the service is “increasing steadily,” said a Chubu Electric official.