Recently, over 10k illegal cases have been investigated and handled in the water, electricity, and gas sectors, with fines and confiscations exceeding 200 million yuan.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said in an announcement released on the 7th that from May 2025 to January 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation rolled out across the country a comprehensive campaign to address problems with metering and billing of residential water, electricity, and gas. During the campaign, it investigated and handled about 14,000 illegal cases in the water, electricity, and gas sector, with penalties and confiscations totaling about RMB 235 million, benefiting nearly 44 million people. The State Administration for Market Regulation directly tackled prominent pain points reported by the public, such as inaccurate metering and non-standard billing for water, electricity, and gas. It coordinated market-regulation departments at all levels to work in concert, strictly punished illegal and noncompliant conduct, and standardized market order. It strengthened management of metering and price/fee charges for residential “three-meters,” and, in accordance with the law, severely investigated and handled illegal and noncompliant acts such as failing to conduct the initial inspection before meter installation, non-compliance with clearly marked prices, and not implementing government-set prices and government-guided prices, among others, to create a strong deterrent through strict law enforcement. For water, electricity, and gas public service enterprises found to have violated rules by charging inappropriately, it advanced refund-remedy rectification with a “zero tolerance” attitude, urging the relevant enterprises to refund a cumulative total of about RMB 300 million. (Xinhua News Agency)