Chongqing Municipal Market Supervision Administration is levying harsh penalties on the Chongqing Gas Group, mandating it to promptly rectify practices of exorbitant gas bills raised by residents in Chongqing and planning to impose a total fine of 8.1 million yuan ($1.12 million) as per the law, according to a report released by the city's market supervision administration on Friday.

According to an announcement issued by the group on Sunday, a dedicated supervision team has been deployed within the group to address the gas bill issues. Additionally, strict accountability measures will be enforced against relevant personnel and departments.

On Friday, the city's market supervision administration released a report regarding an investigation into gas billing practices conducted by Chongqing Gas Group. It says that since January of this year, residents have consistently raised concerns about irregularly high gas charges from the company. In response, the administration and the city's economic and information committee swiftly formed an investigation team to scrutinize the reported issues. They have urged the group to address and resolve the 7,198 complaints and reports, conducted on-site inspections of 1,073 households and analyzed over 240 million pieces of company data.

The investigation found that since the group addressed the gas overcharging issue in April of last year, it failed to adequately fulfill its responsibility and rectify the situation, leading to superficial and ineffective efforts. Currently, issues persist such as disorganized meter reading cycles, unauthorized estimations, incorrect readings and a shortage of meter reading personnel, all of which violate consumers' legitimate rights.

However, no instances of arbitrary price increases, inaccurate gas metering, gas quality issues, remote manipulation of metering or meter replacements resulting in increased gas charges have been detected.

Furthermore, a specialized task force has been established to oversee a 3-month special rectification campaign at the group, ensuring a thorough and comprehensive implementation of corrective measures.