(Yicai) April 22 -- Chengdu Gas Group, which is the biggest gas supplier in the capital city of southwestern Sichuan province, is being investigated by market regulators after its latest price increases sparked a tsunami of customer complaints, just one day after Chongqing Gas Group, which serves the neighboring municipality of Chongqing, was penalized for overcharging its clients.

The Chengdu city hotline 12345 received 1,996 complaints about the new gas fees between the beginning of the month and April 19, the municipality’s market regulator said on April 20.

The watchdog has sent a team to Chengdu Gas, which serves 3.4 million households across an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers, and initial findings are loopholes in the billing and fee collection systems, randomly-altered billing cycles and charging the estimated amount instead of the actual use, it said.

The probe comes the day after Chongqing Gas, whose fourth-quarter profit soared 11-fold year on year, was ordered by the local government to fire its Chairman and General Manager Che Dechen for overcharging its customers and to refund the excess charges. The watchdog is now sending a team to Chongqing Gas’ offices to conduct an on-site investigation.

Both Chongqing Gas and Chengdu Gas have the same major shareholder, China Resources Gas Group, according to Yicai research. The gas utilities group took over Chongqing Gas early last year from Chongqing Energy Investment Group.

Units China Resources Gas (China) Investment and China Resources Gas Investment (China) Limited are Chongqing Gas’ two biggest shareholders with 22.2 percent and 16.9 percent stakes, respectively. While Shenzhen-based China Resources Gas Investment (China) is the second biggest stakeholder in Chengdu Gas with 32.4 percent equity.

Chongqing Gas raked in net profit of CNY261 million (USD36 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2023 and it logged a 20 percent jump in net profit last year from the year before to CNY493 million (USD68.1 million).

Chongqing Gas’ share price [SHA:600917] was trading down 2.6 percent at CNY6.21 (USD0.86) as of 11.30 and Chengdu Gas’ stock [SHA:603053] dipped 0.8 percent to trade at CNY10.06 (USD1.30).

Editor: Kim Taylor