Total refunds exceed 300 million yuan. The State Administration for Market Regulation is cracking down on irregularities in residents' water, electricity, and gas charges.

The reporter learned today that from May 2025 to January 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation, in response to the intense concerns of the public about prominent issues such as inaccurate water, electricity, and gas metering and non-standard billing, deployed a nationwide comprehensive rectification of residents’ water, electricity, and gas metering and billing issues. It used methods such as “go in without notice and inspect on the spot” and “follow up to verify again,” and, in accordance with the law, severely investigated and dealt with illegal and non-compliant acts such as conducting no initial verification before the installation of meters, improper price labeling, and failure to implement government-set pricing and government guidance pricing. For water, electricity, and gas public utilities found to have engaged in improper charging, it adopted a “zero tolerance” approach to advance fee-refund rectification, requiring relevant enterprises to cumulatively refund about 301 million yuan. It also handled approximately 14k illegal cases in the water, electricity, and gas sector, with an amount of fines and confiscations totaling about 235 million yuan. (CCTV News)