Gas Bills Soar After Meter Replacement? Joint Investigation Team Formed and Dispatched to Chongqing Gas and Other Companies
2024-04-15
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Recently, a wave of "gas bill surges" has swept through Chongqing's urban districts. Many residents report that since replacing their gas meters with new ones late last year, their household gas bills have risen sharply, with some months' bills even 2-3 times higher than before.
A Caijing reporter found on the Chongqing online government inquiry platform that since the second half of 2023, residents have been filing complaints one after another that after switching to new smart gas meters, their gas bills settled by Chongqing Gas Group had increased considerably even though their usage had not risen. Residents reporting such problems are spread across multiple districts of Chongqing, including Jiangjin, Yubei, Banan, and Beibei.
In response to multiple residents' reports of inaccurate household gas metering and increased gas bills, the Chongqing Municipal Government Information Office held a press conference on gas metering-related matters (the "press conference") on the evening of April 13.
The press conference stated that municipal-level relevant departments have been instructed to set up a joint investigation team to station at enterprises including Chongqing Gas Group and Kaiyuan Gas to carry out investigative work, conducting a comprehensive investigation into the meter quality, gas quality, meter metering, pricing, billing, and services reported by residents.
Upgrading from talks to proactive spot checks
According to the press conference, after the joint investigation team stationed at the enterprises, it focused on four tasks.
First, it promptly summoned key enterprises such as Chongqing Gas and Kaiyuan Gas to verify the situation, requiring them to take consumer complaints seriously and handle them properly, identify the causes of the cost increases, and proactively respond to public concerns.
Second, it launched special spot checks of gas meters across the board. For consumers who recently reported inaccurate gas metering through 12345 and 12315, the team communicated with each consumer one by one; for those willing to submit their meters for inspection, the Chongqing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, together with the district and county bureaus under its jurisdiction, organized professional personnel to conduct on-site spot checks.
At the same time, gas meters were randomly spot-checked in a total of 16 residential communities and 11 gas supply enterprise warehouses and construction sites across four districts—Jiangbei, Jiulongpo, Banan, and Rongchang—mainly targeting several communities where problems were most concentrated. Using a cross-regional inspection approach, the sampled gas meters were sent to the National Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology and the Chengdu Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology for verification.
Third, Chongqing Gas Group was urged to open a fast-track free gas metering re-verification service channel on April 10, publishing consultation and complaint channels and phone numbers to accept problems reported by residents and users. It is said that as of April 12, a total of 7,362 consultations and complaints had been received and are currently being verified and handled. Meanwhile, the Chongqing Municipal Economy and Information Technology Commission also urged enterprises such as Chongqing Gas Group to carry out self-examination and self-correction, and screening of more than 200,000 households has now been completed.
In addition, the Chongqing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau set up four special inspection teams to station at enterprises such as Chongqing Gas and Kaiyuan Gas, verifying their procurement, sales ledgers, and implementation of government-set prices over the past three years, focusing on illegal and non-compliant practices such as unauthorized charges, violations of government pricing, and erroneous meter-reading estimates.
Tang Yingyu, Director of the Chongqing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, said at the meeting that next, the bureau will continue to deepen the special gas inspection campaign in the market regulation field, focusing on whether natural gas operating enterprises have arbitrarily raised natural gas sales prices, and whether they have failed to strictly implement tiered gas pricing policies, price adjustment documents, and gas preferential policies. At the same time, it will continue to verify the problem leads reported by consumers one by one and handle them strictly in accordance with laws and regulations.
It is worth noting that the Chongqing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau has begun to intensify its investigation, proactively conducting spot checks in multiple districts and counties to verify illegal charging and other practices by enterprises. According to an announcement issued by the bureau on April 10, the measures it took at that time were to summon gas enterprises and open green channels for consumer complaints and reports and for submitting gas meters for inspection.
Company says no metering inaccuracy found in re-verified meters
In response to the aforementioned complaints, Chongqing Gas (600917.SH) issued an announcement on the evening of April 12 clarifying that the company replaced gas meters that had reached the end of their service life in accordance with relevant national safety and metrological verification regulations, and that all newly replaced gas meters had been verified as qualified by statutory metrological verification institutions.
Chongqing Gas stated that, in response to customers' reports of inaccurate gas metering and excessively high gas bills, the company has opened a fast-track on-site gas metering re-verification service channel and arranged dedicated personnel to carry out verification, promising same-day appointments, immediate acceptance, and on-site service within 24 hours. As of the date of the announcement, the company had not found any metering inaccuracy in re-verified gas meters.
A Caijing reporter noted that on April 7, Chongqing Gas's official WeChat account published an article titled "Feeling your gas bill is high and suspecting inaccurate meter readings? What to do?", stating that it had recently received reports from a few customers about high gas bills and suspected inaccurate metering, and that the company had verified each case one by one and responded and handled them promptly, earning users' recognition.
According to Chongqing Gas's 2021 annual report, its gas sales in Chongqing account for about 30% of local consumption. Based on the announcements recently disclosed by Chongqing Gas, the company has a total pipeline network length of 28,700 kilometers, including about 590 kilometers of long-distance transmission pipelines and about 690 kilometers and 12,000 kilometers of urban high-pressure and medium-pressure pipeline networks, respectively, with its network layout covering 27 districts and counties of Chongqing. At present, the company has a total of 5.86 million customers, the vast majority of whom are residential customers. Chongqing Gas stated that "the company has a relatively high market share and influence in the civil gas market."
On March 5, Chongqing Gas released its 2023 performance express report, projecting full-year operating revenue to grow 17.26% year on year to 10.247 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company to grow 22.79% year on year to 493 million yuan.
Combined with the company's third-quarter report, it can be seen that Chongqing Gas's single-quarter revenue and net profit grew significantly in the fourth quarter of 2023. From January to September 2023, Chongqing Gas's operating revenue rose about 15% year on year to 7.166 billion yuan, while net profit attributable to the parent company was 274 million yuan, down 27.05% year on year. This means that Chongqing Gas's revenue and net profit in the fourth quarter of last year are projected to reach 3.1 billion yuan and 219 million yuan, respectively, with single-quarter revenue and net profit increasing by about 900 million yuan and 110 million yuan, or an estimated 41% and 105% quarter on quarter. According to Wind statistics, in the first three quarters of 2023, Chongqing Gas's gross margin was only 8.21%, below the industry average gross margin level of 14.51%.
Regarding its full-year 2023 performance, Chongqing Gas said at a recent investor exchange meeting that part of the reason was the company's steady growth in gas sales volume in 2023, relatively good pass-through pricing, and no significant decline in connection volume.
Regarding the pass-through pricing of the company's natural gas sales business, Chongqing Gas introduced at a roadshow event in late December 2023 that in May and October 2023, the Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission issued pricing documents adjusting natural gas prices for residential and non-residential users. On residential gas prices, the company and its subsidiaries have basically completed pass-through pricing; on non-residential gas prices, the company has completed pass-through pricing, and its subsidiaries are actively cooperating with local governments to advance pass-through pricing work.
According to the performance express report, Chongqing Gas's gas sales volume in 2023 increased 0.69% year on year to 3.496 billion cubic meters. Among this, financially settled purchase-and-sale gas sales volume grew 3.94% year on year to 3.390 billion cubic meters, while pipeline transmission sales volume fell 48.8% year on year to 106 million cubic meters. The company completed financial settlement for 255,600 gas installation households for the full year.
In addition, a Caijing reporter noted that to resolve debt risks, Chongqing Gas's former controlling shareholder, Chongqing Energy, applied to the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court for pre-reorganization and reorganization in April 2022. Under the reorganization plan, Chongqing Energy used all of its shares in Chongqing Gas to repay creditors. On February 27, 2023, with the completion of the transfer registration, Chongqing Gas's controlling shareholder changed from Chongqing Energy to China Resources Gas.
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