2024.0415

Number of words in this article:2329, reading time is about 4 minutes

introduction：联合调查组进驻企业后，重点做了四件事。

** Author| ** First Finance Guo Jiying

Recently, a storm of "skyrocketing gas costs" has been set off in urban Chongqing. Many citizens have reported that since the new gas meter was replaced at the end of last year, the gas cost at home has increased significantly, and the gas cost in some months is even 2-3 times higher than before.

The First Financial Reporter found on the Chongqing Online Political Information Platform that since the second half of 2023, citizens have complained about replacing new smart gas meters. Although the usage has not increased, the gas bills settled by Chongqing Gas Group have increased a lot. Citizens who report such problems are spread across many districts in Chongqing, including Jiangjin, Yubei, Banan, Beibei and other places.

In response to reports from many citizens in Chongqing City that related problems such as incorrect gas metering at home and increased gas costs, on the evening of April 13, the Chongqing City Government Information Office held a press conference on gas metering (hereinafter referred to as the "press conference").

The press conference stated that relevant municipal departments have been instructed to set up a joint investigation team to station in Chongqing Gas Group, Kaiyuan Gas and other enterprises to conduct investigations to conduct investigations on the quality of gas meters, gas quality, gas meter measurement, prices, charges, services, etc. reported by citizens. Conduct a comprehensive investigation.

Upgraded from interviews to proactive spot checks

** **

According to the content of the press conference, after the joint investigation team entered the company, it focused on four things.

The first is to quickly interview key enterprises such as Chongqing Gas and Kaiyuan Gas on the verification situation, requiring enterprises to seriously treat and handle consumer complaints, find out the reasons for the increase in fees, and proactively respond to the concerns of the masses.

The second is to comprehensively carry out special random inspection of gas meters. For consumers who have recently reported incorrect gas meter measurement through 12345 and 12315 complaints, they will communicate with consumers one by one. For those who are willing to submit inspections, the Chongqing City Market Supervision Bureau and their affiliated district and county bureaus will organize professional forces to conduct on-site inspections.

At the same time, random inspections were conducted on gas meters in 16 residential communities in 4 districts including Jiangbei, Jiulongpo, Banan, and Rongchang, as well as warehouses and construction sites of 11 gas supply companies, mainly in several communities where problems were concentrated. The sampling gas meter will be sent to China Academy of Testing Technology and Chengdu City Metrology Verification and Testing Institute for verification by means of off-site inspection.

Third, Chongqing Gas Group was urged to open a fast channel for free gas metering review services on April 10, announce consultation and complaint channels and telephone numbers, and accept complaints from citizens and users. It is alleged that as of April 12, a total of 7362 inquiries and complaints had been accepted and are currently being checked and processed. At the same time, Chongqing City Economic and Information Technology Commission also urged Chongqing Gas Group and other enterprises to carry out self-examination and self-correction, and has completed the screening of more than 200,000 users.

In addition, the Chongqing City Market Supervision Bureau has also established four special inspection teams to stationed in Chongqing Gas, Kaiyuan Gas and other enterprises to verify their procurement situation, sales ledgers, government pricing implementation, etc. in the past three years, focusing on verifying illegal charges, violations of government pricing, and erroneous meter reading estimates.

Tang Yingyu, director of the Chongqing City Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, said at the meeting that in the next step, the Municipal Supervision and Administration Bureau will continue to deepen special gas inspection actions in the field of market supervision, focusing on checking whether natural gas operating companies have increased natural gas sales prices without authorization, and have not strictly implemented ladder gas price policies, price adjustment documents, and preferential gas policies. At the same time, clues to problems reported by consumers will continue to be checked one by one and dealt with seriously in accordance with laws and regulations.

It is worth mentioning that the Chongqing City Market Supervision Bureau has begun to intensify investigations and proactively conduct random inspections of multiple districts and counties to verify corporate illegal charges and other behaviors. According to an announcement issued by the Chongqing City Market Supervision Bureau on April 10, the measures taken by the bureau at that time were to interview gas companies and open a green channel for consumer complaints and reports and gas meter inspection.

The company said it did not find inaccurate metering of the reviewed gas meter

** **

In response to the above-mentioned complaints, on the evening of April 12, Chongqing Gas (600917.SH) issued an announcement clarifying that the company replaced gas meters that had expired in service in accordance with relevant national safety and metrology verification regulations, and that the newly replaced gas meters were all certified by the legal metrology verification agency.

Chongqing Gas stated that the company has opened a fast channel for door-to-door gas metering review services for customers 'reports of inaccurate gas meter metering and excessive gas costs, and arranged for special personnel to implement the verification. The company promises to make an appointment on the same day, accept the case immediately, and provide door-to-door services within 24 hours. As of the date of the announcement, the company has not found any inaccurate metering problems in the reviewed gas meters.

The First Financial Reporter noticed that on April 7, Chongqing Gas's official public account issued a message titled "I feel that the gas bill is high and what should I do if the gas meter is not accurate?" According to an article, it recently received reports from individual customers about high gas costs and suspected inaccurate gas meter metering. The company has verified the situation one by one and responded promptly to disposal, which has been recognized by users.

According to Chongqing Gas's 2021 annual report, its gas sales in Chongqing account for about 30% of local consumption. Based on the recent announcement disclosed by Chongqing Gas, the company has a total pipe network length of 28,700 kilometers, including about 590 kilometers of long-distance transmission pipelines, and about 690 kilometers of urban high-pressure pipe networks and 12,000 kilometers of medium-pressure pipe networks. The pipe network layout covers 27 districts and counties in Chongqing City. At present, the total number of company customers reaches 5.86 million, of which residential customers account for the absolute majority. Chongqing Gas said,"The company has a high market share and influence in the civil gas market."

On March 5, Chongqing Gas released its 2023 performance report. The company expects its annual operating income to increase by 17.26% year-on-year to 10.247 billion yuan; parent net profit will increase by 22.79% year-on-year to 493 million yuan.

Combined with the company's third quarterly report, it can be seen that Chongqing Gas's single-quarter revenue and net profit increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2023. From January to September 2023, Chongqing Gas's operating income increased by approximately 15% year-on-year to 7.166 billion yuan; it achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company of 274 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 27.05%. This means that Chongqing Gas's revenue and net profit in the fourth quarter of last year are expected to reach 3.1 billion yuan and 219 million yuan respectively. In the single quarter, revenue and net profit increased by approximately 900 million yuan and 110 million yuan respectively, and are expected to increase by 41% month-on-month., 105%. According to Wind statistics, in the first three quarters of 2023, Chongqing Gas's gross profit margin was only 8.21%, which was lower than the industry average gross profit margin of 14.51%.

Regarding its full-year performance in 2023, Chongqing Gas stated at a recent investor exchange meeting that part of the reason is that the company's gas sales volume will grow steadily in 2023, the price will be favorable, and the connection volume will not drop significantly.

In response to the favorable price situation of the company's natural gas sales business, Chongqing Gas introduced at a roadshow in late December 2023 that in May and October 2023, the Chongqing City Development and Reform Commission had issued price documents to adjust the price of natural gas for resident and non-resident users. In terms of residential gas prices, the company and its subsidiaries have basically completed smooth pricing; in terms of non-residential gas prices, the company has completed smooth pricing, and its subsidiaries are actively cooperating with the local government to promote smooth pricing.

According to the performance report, Chongqing Gas's gas sales in 2023 increased by 0.69% year-on-year to 3.496 billion cubic meters. Among them, sales of financial gas for purchase and sales increased by 3.94% year-on-year to 3.39 billion cubic meters; sales of pipeline and transportation fell by 48.8% year-on-year to 106 million cubic meters. The company completed financial settlement throughout the year to 255,600 gas installation households.

In addition, the First Financial Reporter noted that in order to resolve debt risks, Chongqing Energy, the former controlling shareholder of Chongqing Gas, applied to the Fifth Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing City for pre-reorganization and reorganization in April 2022. Under the reorganization plan, Chongqing Energy will pay off all of its shares in Chongqing Gas to creditors. On February 27, 2023, with the completion of transfer registration, the controlling shareholder of Chongqing Gas was changed from Chongqing Energy to China Resources Gas.

**