重庆燃气风波，这背后的科技与狠活到底是什么？｜重庆燃气｜燃气费｜换燃气表｜成都燃气｜华润｜中石油｜中石化｜民生行业定价｜王局拍案20240424

Summary

重庆市的天然气收费问题引起了广泛关注，居民的燃气费在新换装的智能燃气表后大幅上涨。疑虑集中在燃气公司的操作上，包括可能的气体混合和不合理计量。重庆燃气集团及其他企业出现问题，包括错估、计费混乱、员工短缺和内部管理不善。市政府已经采取行动，调查燃气企业的不当行为。专家推测，燃气公司的财务压力和价格机制的复杂性可能导致这些问题。天然气行业的价格体制扭曲导致基础设施安全问题，最终影响消费者权益。

Takeaways

• 😮 重庆的居民发现天然气账单急剧增加，怀疑是因为新安装的智能表计问题。
• 🔍 很多网民注意到，即使生活方式未变，与去年同期相比，天然气费用翻了一倍以上。
• 📈 重庆天然气公司最近一季度的利润激增800%，年利润比去年增长了11倍。
• 🕵️‍♂️ 有网民发现，重庆天然气是上市公司，其财务报表显示显著的收益和利润增加。
• 👨‍💼 重庆市政府成立了特别工作组进入重庆天然气公司进行为期三年的回溯调查，调查发现多项收费问题。
• 🏠 调查显示，存在错误估算和计费周期混乱等问题，但智能表计本身未发现问题。
• 💡 讨论了天然气表计可能因为管道中的天然气浓度和压力变化而导致读数不准确的技术问题。
• 🔬 一种观点是天然气可能被掺假，例如混入空气或甲醇，这降低了天然气的热值，增加了用户的消耗量。
• 🔥 网民反映，掺假后的天然气燃烧时火焰由原本的天蓝色变为黄色，显示出热值低和有杂质。
• 🇨🇳 讨论了中国的天然气价格控制政策，以及这些政策如何影响天然气公司的经营和盈利能力。

Q & A

重庆天然气收费增加的主要原因是什么？

重庆天然气费用增加主要是由于市民怀疑新安装的智能表计计量不准确，以及疑似天然气中被掺杂了其他物质导致热值降低。此外，还有观点认为天然气公司可能在管道压力和浓度上作弊，以增加收费。

智能表计与传统表计有什么不同？

智能表计可以远程读取数据，无需抄表员进入住户家中。这种技术使得表计可以更方便地收集使用数据，但也引发了市民对于计量准确性和可能的远程操控的担忧。

为什么天然气公司愿意免费更换表计？

虽然更换表计有一定成本，但从长远来看，通过智能表计能更有效地管理和计费，可能会增加公司的收入。此外，市民怀疑这是公司通过更换表计以掩盖收费增加的真实原因。

市民如何反应对于天然气费用的增长？

许多市民通过社交媒体展示他们的天然气账单来表达不满，指出账单在表计更换后显著上涨，有的甚至增加了四倍。这引发了广泛的关注和讨论。

重庆天然气公司的利润怎样变化，市民怎么看？

重庆天然气公司在过去一年中利润大幅增加，有数据显示，利润增长了800%。市民对此表示怀疑，认为这与天然气费用的异常增加有关。

重庆市政府如何应对天然气费用争议？

重庆市政府成立了一个特别工作组进行了为期三年的回顾性调查，揭示了包括过高收费、计费周期混乱等问题。调查结果导致了天然气公司高层的人事变动。

调查发现了哪些具体问题？

调查发现天然气集团存在不正当估计、计费周期混乱、定价政策执行不完全、表计更换操作无序以及内部监督管理不足等问题。

智能表计的质量和读数是否存在问题？

目前的调查验证中，并未发现关于智能表计的质量和读数问题，也没有发现通过远程操控改变读数的情况。

有关天然气价格的控制和监管情况如何？

中国的天然气价格由国家发改委管控，由于涉及民生，价格不能随意调整。但由于市场价格波动，这一价格管控策略可能导致天然气公司面临财务压力。

市民如何可以自保或检查他们的天然气表计是否准确？

市民可以通过

Outlines

00:00

🔍 重庆天然气费用问题探究

重庆许多市民发现他们的天然气账单在冬季理应减少时反而急剧上升。与去年同期相比，生活方式未变的情况下，天然气费用却翻了一番甚至更多。市民怀疑新安装的天然气表存在问题，认为重庆天然气公司可能在其中搞鬼。此外，公司去年最后一个季度的利润激增，增幅达到800%，使得市民更加怀疑公司在表计和计费上做了手脚。

05:05

🔧 重庆天然气表更换与误差调查

在重庆，老式天然气表需要由抄表员进入居民家中读表。由于抄表员工作量大，经常只能估算用量，这通常导致高估。重庆市沙坪坝区就高估了170,000立方米天然气。尽管有关部门对新智能表的调查未发现问题，但重庆天然气公司的CEO车德晨因管理问题被解雇。此外，全国多地也出现了类似问题，引发了广泛关注和讨论。

10:05

🔬 天然气表的精准与天然气质量问题

当前的分析显示，天然气表本身可能没有问题，它们的制造精准且由军工企业生产。问题可能出在天然气本身，即天然气的浓度和压力可能在输送过程中发生变化，导致表计读数不准。此外，还存在天然气掺假的可能性，比如掺入空气或甲醇等，这会降低天然气的热值，导致居民使用量增加，费用上升。

15:07

📈 天然气价格机制与市场现状

中国的天然气定价机制复杂，涉及居民用气和商用气不同定价层次。尽管国内生产的天然气成本较低，但受国际市场价格波动的影响，天然气公司近年来面临巨大压力。此外，政府的价格管制和市场化进程之间存在矛盾，导致公司财务困难，并可能诱发一些公司采取不正当手段以求生存。

Keywords

💡智能表

智能表指的是配备了高科技功能的气表，可以远程读取用气量，而无需人工入户抄表。在视频中，这种智能表被怀疑被操纵，显示出比实际用气量更高的读数。市民担心新更换的智能表会错误地增加他们的用气费用，这引发了对重庆市天然气公司的广泛怀疑和调查。

💡过高估算

过高估算是指抄表员在无法进入住户家中时，估计一个通常偏高的用气量。在视频中，这种估算导致了重庆一个地区170,000立方米的气体被过度估算。这种行为不仅造成了费用上的不公，也引起了市民的强烈不满和对天然气公司的不信任。

💡掺假

掺假指的是在天然气中掺入其他物质，如空气或甲醇，以减少成本。视频中提到，这种行为可能导致燃气的热值降低，使得消费者需要更多的燃气来完成同样的烹饪或取暖任务，从而导致用气量和费用的增加。此外，掺假的燃气火焰颜色会从蓝色变为黄色，这是掺假的直接证据。

💡利润暴增

利润暴增在这段视频中指的是重庆天然气公司在一季度的利润与去年同期相比增长了800%。这种异常的利润增长引起了人们对公司可能进行不正当操作以提高收益的怀疑，例如通过操纵智能表或掺假来增加销售量。

💡投诉

视频中多次提到市民对于气费上涨的投诉。由于新换的智能表显示出异常的高读数，以及掺假疑虑，导致消费者面临显著增加的天然气账单。这些投诉最终促使地方政府进行调查和介入。

💡回旋余地

回旋余地在视频中指的是天然气企业在定价和运营上的灵活性。由于政府对天然气价格的严格管控，企业在成本上升时难以通过提高价格来转嫁成本，因此可能诱使企业采用掺假等不正当手段来增加利润。

💡市场化

市场化是视频中提到的对天然气定价体系进行改革的建议。通过让天然气价格更多地反映市场供需关系，可以避免当前由于价格控制导致的供应短缺和企业亏损问题，从而使天然气企业能够合理盈利，减少欺诈行为的动机。

💡智能表无问题

尽管存在广泛的市民投诉和对智能表读数的质疑

Highlights

重庆市民发现自家天然气账单显著上涨，疑新安装的天然气表计有问题。

重庆天然气公司近期大规模更换天然气表计，不收费用引起市民疑虑。

相比去年同期，许多市民的生活方式未变，但天然气费用却翻了一番以上。

重庆市政府成立专项小组，对重庆天然气公司开展为期三年的回溯调查。

调查揭露了重庆天然气集团及其他企业存在过度收费等问题。

智能表计未发现质量问题，但存在如计量估算不当等管理混乱问题。

业内人士透露，天然气表计问题可能源于管道内天然气的浓度和压力变化。

有市民发现天然气火焰由蓝色变为黄色，提示可能存在掺杂问题。

业内人士指出，掺杂可能通过加入空气或甲醇来稀释天然气，降低热值。

重庆天然气集团CEO被解除职务，引发全国范围内对天然气问题的讨论。

天然气价格问题背后的复杂因素涉及国内外市场价格波动与政府定价政策。

许多天然气公司因价格机制问题而面临亏损，有的企业采取不正当手段求生存。

中国资源集团接管破产的重庆天然气公司，面临巨大的经济和操作挑战。

市民对天然气掺杂和价格上涨的担忧增加，引发全国性的关注和投诉。

公众和政府对天然气企业的压力导致对基础公共服务定价机制的反思和批评。

市民日益关注天然气消费安全，政府需确保透明度和公正性以维护公众利益。

Transcripts

Today, let's talk about the news on Chongqing's natural gas charges.

Not long ago, many netizens in Chongqing noticed that their gas bills

started to rise sharply.

Logically speaking, during winter,

it is a peak period for heating.

The usage of natural gas would normally increase.

But by April, these gas charges should drop.

However, many netizens found that after entering April,

their gas bills not only didn't decrease but increased instead.

On another note, compared to the same period last year, many netizens have reported

that their lifestyle basically remains the same.

Logically, your monthly gas bill, relatively speaking, should also be fixed.

But many people have found that this year's gas bills have more than doubled compared to last year.

So, many people are focusing their suspicions on what?

They are focusing on the new gas meters installed by the city of Chongqing.

From January to September last year,

this is the start reading, here is the end reading.

The usage was 80 cubic meters, but I changed to a new meter on September 28 last year.

Hmm.

Until yesterday, April 26, in 6 months and 8 days, it reached 83 cubic meters.

The usage in 6 months is comparable to 9 months; there's something wrong with this meter.

Because the Chongqing Gas Company has recently

been replacing meters on a large scale for the citizens.

Think about it, the replacement of a meter costs hundreds of yuan, and the gas company is very enthusiastic.

They call the citizens every day, oh, recommending they change meters.

And they don't even let the citizens pay for it.

Think about it, would a typical company voluntarily spend hundreds of yuan to change your meter for free?

This sounds a bit like a weasel paying a New Year visit to a chicken.

My sister's family recently got their gas meter changed.

Every month, she says, the gas bill has increased by several tens of yuan.

I've seen online that some have doubled.

Previously it was just tens to a hundred yuan a month, and after changing the meter, it became two to three hundred.

Many homeowners are showing their payment records, clearly much higher than before.

Some have even increased by 4 times, it seems.

This phenomenon is indeed happening on a large scale.

I see many comments saying that their household gas bills have increased.

How did these extra gas charges come about? It's not like they cook eight times a day or take eight baths.

Before and after changing the meter, my life is like this.

Cooking before the meter change, cooking after the meter change.

Bathing before the meter change, bathing after the meter change.

What's a smart meter? It's just technology getting tough.

Now with these smart meters, the meter readers don't need to enter your home.

They just know how many units have been used in your home.

Now think about it, if they tweak it a bit,

suppose it's supposed to be 100 cubic meters, they could adjust it to 120, 150 cubic meters.

How would you know?

So many people are suspecting that the Chongqing Gas Company is tampering with it.

Some observant netizens have even found a very important piece of evidence.

Because Chongqing Gas is a listed company, and listed companies have financial statements, right?

Every quarter, they disclose how much revenue and profit they made.

They then found that Chongqing Gas Company's profits

started to skyrocket in the last quarter of last year.

How did they skyrocket? The revenue increased by 23%,

but how much did the profit increase? The profit increased by 800%.

800% in one quarter compared to the same period the year before.

And last year's annual profit, compared to the year before,

grew by 11 times.

So think about it, many people consider this abnormal.

A gas company serving tens of millions of citizens in Chongqing,

the gas consumption by these tens of millions of citizens should basically be the same.

It's not possible that the gas consumption suddenly increases by 8 times, right?

So if your profit margin suddenly increases by 8 times, where does that come from?

That's why many citizens suspect that the Chongqing Gas Company has ulterior motives.

That they are scheming against the ordinary citizens.

So they go online every day, start to show off their gas bills,

saying look how high it is, and some even photograph their meters.

That is, after the meter is changed, it runs fast.

It runs very fast, and the price of the gas meter has gone up a lot.

It's almost double what it was before the meter change.

Before changing the meter, we used to pay just over 100 yuan each time,

okay, now after changing it, we pay over 300 yuan each time.

It's indeed fast, faster than me drinking water.

Incredible, really incredible, natural gas, damn it.

Therefore, the Chongqing city government could not sit still.

They held a press conference a while ago, announcing the establishment of a special task force,

to enter the Chongqing Gas Company, then to conduct a three-year retrospective investigation to see if there were any issues.

And indeed, upon investigation, problems were uncovered in several areas.

It has been determined that Chongqing Gas Group and other gas enterprises

have issues such as overcharging as reported by some citizens for multiple seasons.

Upon investigation, issues existing within Chongqing Gas Group and other gas enterprises include

incorrect or unauthorized estimations, chaotic billing cycles for gas,

incomplete implementation of pricing policies, disorganized meter replacement operations, and severe understaffing.

Some gas enterprises have inadequate internal supervision and management.

What does 'wrong estimation' mean?

In Chongqing, many households still use old-style gas meters,

which require the meter reader to enter your home to read the numbers on your meter.

However, since one meter reader handles 8,000 households,

imagine climbing to those apartments, and if no one is home, what can they do?

They can't possibly wait, can they?

So basically, these meter readers just estimate a number.

But the key is, these estimations are always on the higher side.

An investigation found that in the Shapingba district of Chongqing alone,

they overestimated by 170,000 cubic meters.

Shapingba district accounts for 1/20th of Chongqing's population.

So think about it, if you calculate according to this proportion,

multiply it, then Chongqing's annual overestimated volume amounts to several million cubic meters.

That's a very large number.

Right, this overestimation, and it's always on the higher side, is one aspect.

Then they talk about the disorder in their meter replacement operations and so forth.

But this investigation says, there's no issue with the smart meters themselves.

From the currently verified investigations, no issues were found concerning gas meter readings and quality,

or issues like the alteration of gas meter readings through remote control.

But since such serious issues have arisen,

the CEO of Chongqing Gas, Che Dechen, was dismissed.

Chongqing Gas Group's higher organization has decided to relieve Che Dechen

of his duties as Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Chongqing Gas Group,

and to request the shareholders' meeting to relieve him of his duties as Chairman.

After this result was announced, many netizens from around the country

also started discussing how, indeed, issues were uncovered upon investigation.

This investigation has uncovered serious issues in many places.

There's a screenwriter in Chengdu named Li Yaling.

Li Yaling is quite famous domestically, and she started as a journalist.

So she said,

that during the Spring Festival, this winter, she spent two months in Hainan.

But their home gas meter in Chengdu recorded over 500 units.

You were in Hainan, yet your home gas meter still clocked 500 units.

Think about it, isn't that problematic?

As a result, everyone started sharing their gas meter readings online,

and some people even found that their own home gas meter

showed a debt of 17,000 units after being changed.

17,000 units a day, 24 hours of gas usage, it's hardly possible, right?

So now, complaints are appearing all over the country

about the so-called 'fast running' issue after changing gas meters,

leading to a significant increase in gas bills.

Then, even just turning on a water heater, the gas meter numbers keep rolling,

and the speed is so fast, it scared me enough to go check.

My home gas, watching the numbers roll so frighteningly.

It kept rolling, I thought they were doing it for video effects,

like that, I tried my gas,

and I saw it was about to roll to 3.0,

I barely had time to turn it off, it was so scary.

So now many local governments are also investigating, like Nanjing city just announced,

Nanjing's announcement is quite interesting,

saying if you have a problem, call us at whatever number,

we will explain to you, although the explanation is basically no explanation.

Chengdu also started investigating, saying we also found that

if there are errors or misreports, we will refund everyone.

But recently, this issue has become a focus of national public opinion,

frequently appearing on Sina Weibo hot search.

So today, let's talk about the secrets behind the industry concerning the Chongqing gas fee issue.

The behind-the-scenes industry secrets.

Firstly, these past few days, I've called many industry insiders,

and they generally tell me,

first, that the gas meter, this gas meter indeed has no issues,

because these gas meters are not produced by gas companies,

they are generally produced by military industrial companies in our country,

and these instruments are quite precise.

Furthermore, the manufacturers of these gas meters

would not produce faulty meters for gas companies,

because the legal risks are too high, they're just selling meters,

why would they do such a thing, right?

But there's a catch, what's the catch?

It's that the meter produced by these gas companies

operates based on the concentration and pressure of the gas provided by the gas company in the pipes,

natural gas, they're produced based on these values.

Here's the problem, when you produce the meter,

there's definitely a standard value,

but during normal operations, the pressure and concentration in the pipes,

is it the same as the concentration provided to these meter manufacturers, the standard concentration?

We don't know.

If the concentration and pressure differ, then the meter could possibly be inaccurate,

this is an objective issue concerning the meter.

So if you check the meter, you just take it down,

go test it, and it won't show any issues,

because when you test, you definitely use the standard concentration,

with the standard concentration, the meter definitely runs normally,

but in reality, inside your pipes, is there a problem with that gas?

Only the gas company knows.

For the consumer, consumers have absolutely no idea,

right, this is about the meter issue.

But consumers' current feeling is that with the same lifestyle,

now your gas bill has skyrocketed, so where is the problem?

These past few days, I've read many articles and talked to industry insiders,

and now the main analysis suggests two possibilities,

and these two scenarios, I think, are quite reasonable in their analysis.

One is that industry insiders analyze that there's likely adulteration,

Adulteration, what does that mean?

Adulteration means mixing other substances into the natural gas pipeline,

and there are two ways to adulterate,

one is by directly mixing air.

It's like with your natural gas, say I have 100 cubic meters, I mix in 10 cubic meters of air.

When you mix in 10 cubic meters of air, it blends in with nitrogen.

Oxygen, but as everyone knows, if you mix in too much oxygen, it could explode.

Wasn't there an explosion in Yanjiao a while back?

But whether that explosion in Yanjiao was caused by this, we don't know.

However, the concentration you mixed, if it is below a certain value, it won't explode.

But the key is that you have nitrogen in the air you mix.

This nitrogen, it causes the calorific value inside your entire natural gas pipeline.

The calorific value of the gas is reduced.

Originally, the calorific value of one cubic meter, say, is 8,000 joules,

kilocalories, but now you mix in 10%, and doesn’t that change it to 7,000?

So, if you're cooking, you have to consume an equal amount of calorific value,

you'll need to increase your consumption, that's one possibility.

There's very important evidence for this possibility, what is it?

Just look at those flames because the normal natural gas,

its flame is sky blue, just pure blue.

There's nothing else.

But now, many netizens filming their home gas

find the flames are yellow.

What does a yellow flame indicate? It shows that the calorific value is low, there are impurities.

This is one way to analyze, so there's also evidence.

The second kind is to say mixing, not necessarily air.

I saw online a channel called Sea Whisper Mix.

This person has an account on TikTok, he's been in the industry for 20 years.

He says the mixing is not with air, but with what? He says it's methanol.

Consumers call this 'Technology and Hard Work',

but we insiders nickname it the 'Secret Formula'.

Everyone, fasten your seatbelts, I'll now demonstrate on-site the process and principle of fuel adulteration.

In my left hand, I'm holding methanol at a concentration of 99.99%,

which through a dehydration reaction produces the notorious dimethyl ether.

In my right hand is a bottle of Wahaha purified water, I'll penalize myself with three cups as a demonstration.

Next, I will mix the purified water into the methanol fuel.

Guess what, will it affect its combustion?

No more talking, let's see directly. The concentration changes from four nines to 65%.

First, pour it out and do a fire experiment, the formula is perfect.

Don’t swipe away, this is just an appetizer.

Wait till I connect to the stove, and you'll understand why some gas fuels don’t burn well.

If it's used up quickly, can you cook with this limp state? The answer is no.

What would happen if I used natural forces? Don't blink.

Watch carefully the difference between having wind and no wind.

The flame that was just weak, with the help of wind,

suddenly becomes mighty like it took a dose of Rehmannia pills.

This is the principle of using wind to enhance fire.

By analogy, if someone artificially pressurizes natural gas with insufficient calorific value,

would it have the same effect?

Adulterated fuel can’t avoid the lowering of calorific value and the side effects of molecular instability.

At this time, methane, nitrogen, combustion aids, stabilizers, ferrocene, xylene,

these trimmings come into play.

These things, sandwiched in liquids, can add weight; in gases, they can expand.

Whether you're buying by kilogram or ordering by volume,

they can find the right formula for you.

Here, to reassure restaurant owners using methanol fuel,

since cast iron conducts heat with a limit, you don’t need the purity of four nines.

It evaporates too easily.

Grades 80-90 are more economical.

At least you're using real methanol mixed with water.

Compared to those invisible pipes, gas cylinders mixed with dirty things,

offering methanol workers a way to seek wealth without harming lives is already very conscientious.

So, methanol, is now our industrial extract.

Now, the most important function of methanol mixed into this natural gas is what?

The most important function is also to reduce the calorific value.

If these two substances are added to compressed natural gas, the volume increases but the calorific value decreases.

The cost will drop precipitously, and crucially, these two corrosion experts

will damage the seals of the shut-off valves, even if you haven't turned on the fire.

But as long as any neighbor on the same branch line is using it,

your gas meter will start running too.

If you control your tap to drip mode,

your water meter doesn't move, but the overall meter usage changes.

It's the opposite with natural gas; a loose rubber seal will cause the meter to run air, not gas.

Otherwise, how could it be possible to achieve a business miracle where sales grew only 0.69%

but profits soared by 824%?

Because he has been working in the natural gas industry for 20 years,

he says his analysis is very reasonable.

After reading it, I also think it makes a lot of sense.

Because he said that adding methanol and dimethyl ether was a secret in the gas company era,

it was an industry secret.

With 20 years of firsthand experience witnessing LPG adulterated with dimethyl ether,

colleagues who have been sentenced are in the triple digits.

On the 12309 China Supervision website, the latest cases are plentiful.

For someone who loves watching the news, you're choosing to be blind.

Look at the cases caught this year,

these unscrupulous chemical dealers risk imprisonment,

adding over 20 million dimethyl ethers to LPG, exceeding 60% content.

In this industry, I've seen everything except ghosts.

Every day we study recipes like restaurant chefs,

crafting dishes based on the fruit and vegetable market conditions.

So, the taste and flavor of each period are different.

These are the ingenious methods of insiders, what consumers call 'Technology and Hard Work'.

So he believes

you shouldn't just focus on the gas meter; the gas meter isn't really the problem.

The real problem is the adulteration in the gas pipelines

So did you see it?

That so-called official Chongqing press conference investigation

It really just skirted the main issue. Why? Because they only talked about miscalculations.

It was all about changing to smart meters, and in the end, saying the smart meters had no issues either.

No one dared to touch on the issue of adulteration in the natural gas pipelines.

Look, now there isn’t even a single third-party testing agency

announcing an investigation into this adulteration issue.

And another suspicion, what suspicion? That recently

everyone has been reporting issues with the gas, right?

And then many consumers noticed, hey, recently

the flame in their homes has changed from yellow back to blue.

Have you noticed these past few days, the flames on the gas stove have started to look normal?

Previously, they were always yellow or red flames following it.

And now, the gas meter isn't spinning as quickly as it did a couple of days ago.

It feels like the natural gas is working better again.

And it seems like the gas bill has also gone down.

This actually has something to do with what Ting Hai speculated.

Why? Because recently there has been more scrutiny, so no more adulteration.

With no more adulteration, the flame color has turned back to sky blue.

And then your usage costs have dropped, this is all controllable by their backend.

This is the cunning and technology of the natural gas industry.

This method is just a way to make consumers pay more.

Right? This is actually probably the key reason behind the Chongqing natural gas incident,

including natural gas issues around the country recently.

Speaking of this, it’s still not enough, why would Chongqing gas companies adulterate?

Now, people overseas are explaining, saying it's all because of the state-owned enterprise China Resources.

China Resources, they say, is trying to squeeze the last drop of blood from the people.

That’s what Falun Gong media is saying, and it’s extremely cruel to the people.

But actually, if we look at it, the facts might not be exactly like this.

Chongqing gas company went bankrupt once a few years ago.

It’s a state-owned enterprise with assets reportedly worth 100 billion,

but it ended up with debts of seven to eight hundred billion, a 75% debt ratio.

In Chongqing, this company not only has gas operations but also coal mines.

Due to de-capacity measures, many coal mines were shut down, hence there was depreciation.

Eventually, it had no choice but to declare bankruptcy.

After the bankruptcy liquidation, there was a restructuring,

and China Resources took over the Chongqing gas company. Everyone knows

China Resources is a very large state-owned company, one of the global top 500, ranked around 70th.

Its market value is about 2 trillion,

with an annual turnover of 700 billion RMB.

In fact, the gas sector is also very large,

one of the top five gas companies in our country, listed in Hong Kong.

But if we look at the financial statements of China Resources’ listed gas company,

you’ll see that its operating profit isn’t very high,

and these past two years, it has actually been struggling between loss and profit.

So, looking at these companies, they haven’t really made much money.

Then why on one hand do they adulterate for the people,

and on the other hand, it seems they haven’t really made much money?

How can this phenomenon be explained?

There’s a deeper background to this,

I think it involves two aspects.

The first aspect involves natural gas, water, electricity in China,

considered essential services by the country.

The prices for electricity, water, and gas

are regulated by the NDRC, and companies don’t have the power to set their own prices.

Without the power to set prices, because it involves essential services,

these prices can’t be raised arbitrarily, so you can see in China, the prices for electricity, water,

including gas for residents

are indeed among the cheapest in the world.

So this is a theory of the Chinese government.

It concerns the people's livelihood and prices cannot be arbitrarily increased.

But the problem is, for the natural gas industry,

there is a very important change.

Gas companies are actually just sellers, sales enterprises.

They buy this gas from the two oil giants above, PetroChina and Sinopec.

After buying the gas, they sell it to the people, generally, the price difference is between 0.45 to 0.50 yuan.

They just earn this difference between the wholesale and retail price.

But this pricing system is very complex.

For our country's end-users, it is divided into what is called Level One and Level Two.

So-called Level One and Level Two.

Level One refers to the price of gas for residential use.

The price of residential gas is set very cheap.

Because its source is the domestically produced gas,

and the gas transported from abroad through pipelines, which has a lower cost, so it's called Level One.

Residential use is given priority, and the price for residents is cheaper.

Then there is some commercial use of gas,

or used more during the tiered process.

This Level Two, even the commercial use of gas, follows the same logic.

It's the same as our country's electricity prices.

It's called "using commercial to subsidize residential."

But this so-called gas pricing system is very, very complex.

The upstream, now PetroChina and Sinopec, their pricing

Overall, it has basically become marketized.

It has basically become marketized, as everyone knows the context,

including the international prices of oil and natural gas

which have fluctuated greatly in recent years.

Starting from 2020, the price of natural gas began to soar.

Of course, after soaring for three or four years, it began to plummet at the beginning of this year.

So because the terminal prices cannot just follow the market prices,

in the natural gas industry, this is called following the market prices, this has caused the natural gas industry companies

to really suffer in recent years.

So everyone can take a look, the financial statements of natural gas companies listed in various places

are dreadful to see.

Even there was a known incident two years ago, when China Gas cut off gas in Hebei.

At that time, Hebei was promoting coal-to-gas conversions.

In many rural areas, they were promoting coal-to-gas conversions.

Because of the air purification project, mobilizing farmers to stop burning coal,

and then burn natural gas, this was called the coal-to-gas project.

The coal-to-gas project actually had subsidies.

Then China Gas took on a large part of this project at the time.

But because its Level One price

was fixed in proportion to what it agreed with Sinopec and PetroChina,

what happened was that after this coal-to-gas project entered the rural areas,

a large number of farmers actually used this Level One price.

Suddenly this quota was used up, and after that,

they could not buy this cheap gas from Sinopec and PetroChina anymore.

What to do? They could only use high-priced gas.

This high-priced gas and the Level One price formed an inversion.

In the end, what could China Gas do?

They started to limit gas to these farmers; if you can't buy gas, they cut off the gas.

In the bitter cold of winter, you can imagine,

many farmers had actually dismantled their gas stoves.

Then, there was no gas.

No gas, many farmers then set up wood stoves at home again.

And some people chopped up the wood of their sofas to cook.

So what to do, this shows that there was a problem with the pricing mechanism.

This is a very important reason, these two factors.

First, the terminal pricing was problematic.

Second, because the upstream market prices have already been marketized,

this caused a conflict between upstream and downstream prices.

This is actually the fundamental reason for the natural gas pricing issues.

These businesses are not making money, so what do they do?

Many businesses may start thinking of unscrupulous methods.

This adulteration might have occurred under such circumstances.

But these immoral acts by businesses

are not discussed due to their moral implications,

but because of the issues with China's natural gas pricing.

These actions by businesses are a result of that.

Ultimately, in my view, China's coal, electricity, and water

should follow some market principles.

If you think low-income families actually struggle,

then the government should provide targeted subsidies to them.

For example, families on welfare, right?

You might subsidize their natural gas prices

and subsidize their water.

But now, the prices of water, electricity, and natural gas

are universally capped.

Ultimately, it's essentially a universal subsidy, which on one hand is unfair

and on the other hand actually causes market failures.

People can waste water, right?

When I was in Beijing, water was indeed very cheap, just a few yuan per ton.

It was really cheap, but when I got to Japan, I realized

that my monthly water and electricity bills added up to two to three thousand yuan.

It's expensive, but that can cultivate people's awareness of energy conservation.

If your income is really low, then you should apply for subsidies from the government.

So, universal subsidies inherently make no sense.

But the Chinese government, due to long-term influence by leftist views,

thinks that pricing in the livelihood sector should not be adjusted.

Of course, I also know that in the past two years, due to the soaring natural gas prices, they've been extremely high,

so various localities have indeed started to introduce a price linkage mechanism,

which is the follow-price mechanism.

But this follow-price mechanism is seriously lagging behind the market

and timing cycles

So these companies still cannot reflect this on their financial statements.

That is, over the past few years, the changes in natural gas prices have been too dramatic.

Then, the price at the front has already risen, and they can't increase their prices.

Then, the price alignment mechanism is severely lagging.

Therefore, these companies suffer severe losses, even struggling on the brink of loss.

So what is the correct approach?

The correct approach should actually be like the oil prices.

You can see now the rise in oil prices compared to international oil prices.

Relatively speaking, it's faster.

This way, it can ensure that these refining companies, and even these gas stations,

can obtain a reasonable profit.

So I think this is a very important point.

That is, the price should be fully marketized rather than universally subsidized.

This is the most important point.

So why does the Chinese government not dare to marketize these basic public services?

I think there are two reasons.

First, during its planned economy era,

it constantly brainwashed the public, and what was the content of the brainwashing?

It was that the government is about public welfare, not about making money.

State-owned enterprises don't make money off you.

And they were designed almost as if they didn't need money.

This cultivated a public mindset.

In these areas, they are unwilling to accept market pricing.

You must understand that accepting market pricing itself requires education.

After you've maintained very low prices for a long time, it becomes very difficult to raise them.

So, when prices need to be raised in each place, there has to be a hearing, right?

During the hearing process, would the public agree?

So they hold fake hearings, bringing in some experts to say, "Ah, the increase is inevitable."

It's just mutual deception, a form of tokenism.

That's one reason, and the other reason really exists,

now with the economic downturn, and then the rising natural gas prices,

at this time, if you significantly raise the price of natural gas,

the public will universally express dissatisfaction.

And this public dissatisfaction is what the Chinese government fears the most right now.

Everyone knows that the government now strictly controls the media,

so issues can't be reported.

But they can't control the public's grievances, the mood of the people.

Therefore, the government is very wary of the widespread resonant emotions gathered online.

And these universally resonant emotions are most likely to explode in areas such as

the past issues with basic pricing fluctuations.

For instance, the prices of natural gas, water, and electricity.

Now the government really doesn't dare to raise them, because once they raise them significantly,

even if it's just an increase of 100 or 200 yuan a month,

for many low-income families in China,

this amount has a huge impact on their quality of life.

Their grievances are contagious, and once they spread,

the government is terrified. This is what the Chinese government is most concerned about now.

They maintain stability, but what are they stabilizing? It's exactly this.

So, they suppress these natural gas companies, telling them not to raise prices.

If you raise prices, I'll deal with you, but the natural gas companies also need to survive.

To survive, what do they do? Their upstream prices have already increased.

So what do they do? They start using these sneaky methods.

So, in the current pricing system for infrastructure in China,

it's actually, how should I say, mutual deception,

which ultimately results in a poor outcome.

Because you should know that adding methanol or dimethyl ether to natural gas

has significant safety hazards.

Do you know what dimethyl ether is? It is a renewable energy source,

adding it to liquefied gas is considered a serious crime.

Because of its oxygen content, it corrodes the rubber seals of gas cylinder valves,

posing a great safety risk.

The most critical point is that these two corrosive agents can damage the seal of the shut-off valve,

Methanol and dimethyl ether's corrosivity is too strong.

Just look at the pipelines in old neighborhoods; which one isn't rust-stained?

Natural gas is a gas, while methanol is a liquid.

Taxi engines' fuel injectors can't withstand it, let alone seamless steel pipes.

What risk does it bring? The risk it brings is explosion.

That gas explosion incident in Yanjiao, the cause still hasn't been clearly identified up to now.

And whether it's related to this underlying mechanism,

that is, this so-called Gresham's Law mechanism, we are not sure.

We're not clear.

However, the technology behind this industry and the hard work have now revealed their social harm.

It has become apparent now.

Of course, I don't want you to think that I am whitewashing companies like China Resources.

I have no sympathy for such companies.

Just a few days ago, a girl in Wuxi spoke out online because

the price of natural gas in her home suddenly doubled.

She found it incomprehensible.

After posting this online, people from China Resources showed up at her house.

Five or six people came and changed her gas meter with very good attitudes.

She was quite moved at the time.

They even inquired about her family's situation.

She said that 20 minutes after these people left, the police arrived.

The reason the police came was to register her family's situation under the guise of anti-fraud.

They took down her husband's employment information and left.

She said that after the registration, the local government approached her husband's company,

demanding that he delete the online post or face consequences.

If you don't delete it, you'll be dealt with.

She said at that time she was truly sorry to China Resources, "I can't afford to offend you,

please spare me, I'm just a commoner."

So, you see, when these state-owned enterprises actually face problems,

this ferocious face they show, utilizing public power to strike at consumers,

in my view, it's no injustice that the government gives them a hard time.

They are accomplices to the government's power.

So, this episode is not about whitewashing them,

but about the government's flawed pricing mechanism.

It leads to these state-owned enterprises distorting the pricing of infrastructure,

ultimately forcing them to adopt fraudulent methods for survival,

cheating consumers.

And what does this ultimately lead to?

It significantly reduces the safety of the entire gas pipeline network.

This is the most terrifying true picture behind the Chongqing gas incident.

Okay, that's all for today.

Thank you, everyone.

The world looks to China for energy, China looks to Sichuan and Chongqing.

They work tirelessly to power societal development,

considering the state's needs and the people's urgencies.

In times of weak domestic demand,

they boost performance through technological innovation,

In 2023, on the basis of a 0.69% increase in sales volume,

they created a Chinese miracle with a 17% increase in revenue and a 28% increase in net profit.

The humble gas meter has achieved Chinese speed.

Sichuan and Chongqing Gas Group improved technology,

successfully achieving the industry miracle of "meter runs in Chengdu while residing in Hainan."

And they have also maintained the moral bottom line of "seeking profit without harming lives."

China's energy sector has practiced the ethic of "one suffers for the happiness of millions" across three generations.

Now I announce the 2024 China Impact Award recipients,

Chengdu Gas Group and Chongqing Gas Group under China Resources Group.