To address the recently reported cases of insufficient heating and gas shortage, the Ministry of Environmental Protection have sent over 2,000 investigators to carry out heating inspection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Of all the rural communities that have completed coal-to-gas or coal-to-electricity transformation, 426,000 households in 1,208 communities have been affected by gas shortages since the heating season began. With joint efforts from the local authorities and the investigating groups, these households were provided with sufficient heating as of Dec. 20.
Altogether 839 investigating squads finished inspecting 5.54 million households in 25,220 communities of 385 counties in and around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Of the 4.74 million households in 21,516 communities that have gone through coal-to-gas or electricity transformation, 426,000 households, or 5.6 percent of the total, have suffered from gas shortages. Authorities helped to address the gas shortages by reallocating gas resources, allowing temporary coal burning or providing electric heating. By Dec. 20 all the affected residents have received sufficient heating.
According to an official at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 3,704 communities have yet to complete the coal-to-gas or electricity transformation, and 3,288 of them have been burning coal for heating, while 413 have been using temporary heating appliances. However, 1,919 households in three communities in Shanxi Province, Shandong Province and Henan Province had neither finished transformation nor resorted to temporary heating measures prior to the investigation. With the help of the investigating groups, the three communities have been back on the track of accessing heating services.
The first and foremost task is to guarantee heating for every household, an official from the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. At the same time, the construction of heating network needs to speed up. In addition, gas shortages in other aspects of life such as supply of vehicle fuel have also been reported to local governments for coordination and solution.