Un Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, has a subdivided flat at HK$4,300 a month. The room is 78 square feet; the tenant works the early shift at a bakery on Yen Chow Street; the landlord's meter handles the gas, and the rate on that meter has run above Towngas's published tariff for four years. Towngas told RTHK on June 2 it is in talks with the Gas Authority over a domestic price increase; the company did not specify the figure. The government's subdivided-flat reform, which came into effect for new licences last year, sets a minimum floor for unit size that does not apply retroactively to existing registered units. She is in a registered unit. The floor is not hers.

The Housing Bureau has not released an enforcement mechanism for landlord submetering markups, and the Gas Authority's tariff review covers the top-line rate only. Whatever Towngas negotiates, the markup travels separately -- through the landlord's invoice, which sits outside the reach of both bodies. The Legco Housing Panel has a mid-June session on the Subdivision Ordinance's second tranche; the submetering question is not on the published agenda. The HK$4,300 does not include gas.