ThePaper.cn: 

Recently, some heat suppliers said they were facing losses, and some even announced that they would stop supplying heat. It is known that heat suppliers are facing tremendous pressure in their business operations. Given this, what measures will be adopted? Thank you. 

Lian Weiliang:

Thank you for your question. We confirmed that the situation was true after an investigation. However, this is an individual case, and the problem has been addressed. Despite being an individual case, it reminds us that we need to make more efforts to investigate and identify risks and hidden problems in energy enterprises, in a bid to identify problems early and correct them while they are nascent. We will deal with every single problem that impacts energy and heat supply so as to keep people warm in the winter.

Some heat suppliers said that they are grappling with greater operating pressure due to surging costs in fuels. It is a problem that many enterprises have experienced, but we need to adopt proper and targeted approaches and methods in line with specific cases. We will make greater efforts in five aspects to ensure energy supplies. 

First, we will ensure the supply of resources. Regardless of their size or ownership, heat suppliers will all be involved in medium- and long-term coal contracts and strictly follow the contracts' pricing policies to control fuel costs appropriately. 

Second, we will ensure the full implementation of policies regarding pricing and subsidies. Local governments should deliver their promised subsidies promptly to alleviate the burden of heat suppliers hit by serious losses due to rising fuel costs. After the heating period, prices should be adjusted according to the law to manage the costs appropriately. The price adjustments regarding people's heating services should be strictly implemented via legal procedures.

Third, we will make sure that local governments take on the responsibility of ensuring energy supplies. If a heat supplier stops their supply, then local governments must take on the responsibility of ensuring heat supply unconditionally. 

Fourth, we will implement targeted measures to help enterprises. We will strictly implement a government responsibility system to assist and support heat suppliers. The working group sent by the government should take on responsibilities and make coordinated efforts to deal with the difficulties and problems encountered by enterprises in a timely manner. 

Fifth, we will implement the monitoring and fast-handling mechanism to deal with individual cases. While the total amount of heat supply can be ensured, it is crucial to prevent the emergence of various individual cases. We will thus give full play to the coordination mechanism to address individual cases in the supply of energy, as well as the hotline 12398 for complaints and reports on energy supervision across the nation, which has been mentioned by Mr. Zhang. By doing so, we will intensify public opinion monitoring and supervise the handling of individual cases in a bid to ensure that each case is assigned to the relevant department and addressed with feedback. Thank you.