According to the notice issued by the Municipal Price Bureau (MPB, from January 1st, 2016, Yichang has started to implement the tiered prices system for urban residents living natural gas.

To meet different needs of natural gas the MPB divided the annual gas consumption of residents into three categories, each of which will be charged according to the excessive cumulative consumption. The first category of the gas price maintains unchanged which is 2.43 yuan per cubic meter, the second one is 2.67 yuan per cubic meter and the third one is 3.40 yuan per cubic meter.

As for the setting standard of gas of each category, it is reported that a tiered price hearing of Yichang’s urban residents living natural gas is held before. According to the opinions and suggestions of participants in the hearing and people from all sectors of society and combined with Yichang’s urban situation, the final program is decided like this, the first category of gas consumption is set from 0 to 360 (included) cubic meters, the second is from 361 to 600 (included) cubic meters, the third one gas consumption is over 601 cubic meters.

For those non-resident users who consume gas in school teaching and students’ living, social welfare institutions, community organizations working places (public welfare service facilities for residents included), museums, gymnasiums, memorial museums, cultural centers, libraries, art galleries, an integrated township cultural stations and other public cultural units which are free to the public, the gas price is the average of the first and second category with the price of 2.55 yuan per cubic meter.

The gas consuming standard will be higher if there are more people in a family in this program. For family with more than three people, if one person is added, the annual gas consumption of the first category will be increased 120 cubic meters. The gas consumption of each category shall be decided by both the gas companies and the users.

In addition, poor households who annually use less than 36 cubic meters of gas will be exempt from fees. For the gas consumed over 36 cubic meters, the price will be charged according to tiered pricing program.

It is worth noticing that before May 1st 2016, both general table users and MC users, if the reading statement and gas purchase transactions have been completed, but they consume more than the first category of gas, the gas company cannot recharge the second category of the gas price. For example, before March 1st user Mr. Zhang has paid for 400 cubic meters according to the meter readings and MC user Mr. Li has purchased 400 cubic meters of gas. Since they have completed the gas purchase transactions, the gas company cannot recharge them for the extra 40 cubic meters of gas that they have over used. (Reporter Pei Shujing)