China will complete the reform of its urban house heating system in two years, the Deputy Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing said on Tuesday.

The basic principal of the reform is to put the current covert government subsidies for heating into a personal account of the service provider, which will charge each house according to the amount of heat actually provided, he said.

Qiu made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Green and Energy Efficient Building.

Urban house heating is known as the last fortress of China's planning economy. Currently employers have to pay for their workers' house heating, the cost of which is calculated by the floor size of each house, hence there are incentives for energy saving.

House heating accounts for a large chunk of energy consumption in China, where half of the world's new buildings are located.

The reform tries to encourage energy saving by firstly refurbishing the old heating networks so that heat supply to each house or flat could be controlled and measured independently.

Also speaking on the issue on Tuesday, the Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao said lower-income residents shall receive government aid during the reform.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)