Water, electricity, heat and other public utilities are important guarantees for social production and life, closely related to the vital interests of the people. In recent years, there have been more cases of monopoly in the field of public utilities, which have harmed the legitimate rights and interests of relevant business entities and the people. In order to prevent and stop monopolistic behavior in the field of public utilities, prevent some public utility operators from extending their monopoly advantages to competitive links upstream and downstream, maintain fair market competition, protect consumer interests and social public interests, the State Administration for Market Regulation has strengthened anti-monopoly law enforcement work in the field of public utilities in recent years. On January 21st, the State Administration for Market Regulation disclosed to the public the case of prohibiting operators such as Blue Bird Gas Co., Ltd. and Nanguan Gas Co., Ltd. from establishing new joint ventures in Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province. This case is the first time since the implementation of the Anti Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China that the State Administration for Market Regulation has prohibited the concentration of operators in the public utility sector, effectively maintaining the competitive order of the bottled liquefied petroleum gas market, preventing entities from pushing up the price of bottled liquefied petroleum gas and increasing the burden on the public after concentration, and effectively safeguarding consumer interests. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, in October 2024, six enterprises engaged in bottled liquefied petroleum gas business in Nanhai District signed an agreement to establish and jointly control a joint venture enterprise in Nanhai District to invest, construct and operate bottled liquefied petroleum gas storage and distribution stations. The concentration did not meet the declaration standards for concentration of operators stipulated by the State Council, and the parties voluntarily declared. After receiving the application, the State Administration for Market Regulation solicited opinions from relevant government departments, industry associations, and hired independent third-party institutions to conduct economic analysis. After evaluation, this concentration will result in the centralized entity gaining market dominance in the bottled liquefied petroleum gas market in Nanhai District, Foshan City. At the same time, it will also be more conducive to coordinating behavior between the centralized entity and other market participants. It may directly or indirectly implement behaviors such as raising commodity prices, which will harm fair competition and consumer interests in the market. According to the Anti Monopoly Law and relevant regulations, the State Administration for Market Regulation prohibits this case in accordance with the law. The relevant person in charge of the Anti Monopoly Law Enforcement Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation introduced that due to the public, regional, and policy characteristics of public utilities, the types, manifestations, and damages of their monopolistic behavior exhibit certain particularities. It is necessary to focus on the monopoly issues in the public utility field and develop specialized anti-monopoly guidelines in order to further enhance the scientific, targeted, and effective nature of anti-monopoly law enforcement. To this end, in early September 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation drafted the "Guidelines for Antitrust in the Public Utility Sector (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comments"). The draft for soliciting opinions has made targeted provisions on the issue of monopoly agreements in the above-mentioned public utility fields, proposing that public utility operators with competitive relationships can fix their sales price levels, price fluctuation ranges, or profit levels through oral agreements, meetings, and signing self-discipline agreements; The act of dividing sales territory or sales targets, market share, or profit distribution through cooperative operation, forming a consortium, etc., which has the effect of excluding or restricting competition, constitutes a monopoly agreement and should be prohibited. The purpose of clearing the anti-monopoly review of local protection of business concentration is to prevent and control the potential formation or strengthening of market dominance in advance, aiming to maintain a reasonable market structure, prevent excessive concentration of market power, and maintain market competition. Public utilities such as water, electricity, and gas are closely connected to the daily lives of the general public. However, due to the natural monopoly characteristics of public utilities, the degree of marketization in this field is relatively low, and the market competition mechanism is difficult to effectively play a role. At the same time, due to insufficient competition, the service level of the public utility market has also shown uneven phenomena, and the service quality in some regions and fields is difficult to meet the expectations and needs of the people. In addition, the openness of public utilities is generally low, and the entry of external capital and technology is subject to many restrictions, which further limits innovation and development in this field. The State Administration for Market Regulation attaches great importance to ensuring market order in the field of public utilities. In recent years, the State Administration for Market Regulation has strengthened the publicity of anti-monopoly law enforcement in the public utility sector by releasing typical cases of anti-monopoly law enforcement special actions in the field of people's livelihood. In the typical cases of the 2024 anti-monopoly law enforcement special action in the field of people's livelihood released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the proportion of monopoly cases in the public utility sector is the highest, including cases of monopoly by bottled liquefied gas enterprises, cases of abuse of market dominance by water companies, and cases of abuse of market support by gas companies. On May 23, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation also held a guidance meeting on anti-monopoly compliance in the field of public utilities, providing guidance on strengthening anti-monopoly compliance for operators in the public utility sector. Professor Yang Weidong from the Institute of Rule of Law and Government at China University of Political Science and Law pointed out that the "Draft for Soliciting Opinions" released last year coordinated and unified competition policy and industry regulation, providing clear guidance for anti-monopoly law enforcement and compliant operation of operators. This time, the first case of the State Administration for Market Regulation prohibiting the concentration of operators in the public utility sector since the implementation of the Anti Monopoly Law has been announced. This series of measures undoubtedly demonstrates China's determination to govern the monopoly chaos in the public utility sector, which is a key issue affecting people's livelihoods. Guarding the well-being of the people is paramount in all matters. Monopolistic behavior in the field of people's livelihood drives up the cost of living and compresses the welfare space for the public. On December 17, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a special press conference to introduce the progress and main achievements of the three-year special action on anti-monopoly law enforcement in the field of people's livelihood. Specifically, it is manifested as maintaining a high-pressure and severe punishment situation in the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past three years, a total of 12 major typical cases have been investigated and dealt with, including the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Biochemical Case, the Tianjin Pharmaceutical Industry Case, and the Shanghai Xinyi Joint Case, which resulted in fines of 1.219 billion yuan, 362 million yuan, and 223 million yuan, respectively. This has effectively deterred the illegal entities, and the prices of the drugs involved have all decreased by more than 40%, with a maximum decrease of 95%, reducing the cost of medication for patients and national medical insurance expenditures. Intensify efforts to rectify the public utility sector, investigate and deal with 16 cases of monopoly in the water, electricity, gas, and heating fields, such as the Weihai Water Case and the Nanjing Zhongran Case, with a fine of 183 million yuan, and effectively rectify typical monopolistic behaviors such as restricted transactions and bundled sales. Strengthen the normalization of supervision in the field of platform economy, closely monitor platform competition behavior, thoroughly investigate issues such as the lowest price and "choose one from two" across the entire network, and conduct public interviews with platform operators who harm the interests of small and medium-sized merchants and consumers. Focusing on the "key small matters" in the fields of transportation, education, and other livelihood areas, we will investigate and punish monopoly agreement cases involving 77 motor vehicle testing enterprises, 22 driving training institutions, and 12 insurance companies in accordance with the law, severely crack down on collusive price increases, market segmentation, and other behaviors, and promote the improvement and reduction of fees by the parties involved. Professor Shi Jianzhong, an expert from the Expert Advisory Group of the State Council Anti Monopoly Commission and Vice President of China University of Political Science and Law, stated that strengthening the enforcement of anti-monopoly laws, preventing and stopping restrictive competition behaviors, and safeguarding consumer interests are specific regulatory actions to implement the people-centered development concept. The special law enforcement in the field of people's livelihood has seized the most concerned, direct, and practical interests of the people, ensured and improved people's livelihoods, promoted social fairness and justice, and made an irreplaceable contribution to the rule of law for common prosperity by ensuring that development achievements benefit all people more and fairly. (New Society)