Free heating service for Chinese urban residents will come to an end as China institutes drastic reform in its heating supply service.

On Thursday, Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing introduced the details of the reform at a working conference on heating supply management.

Qiu said heating will no longer be a necessity but a commodity in China, and urban residents must pay for it themselves instead of their employers through the reform.

Pilot projects will first be launched in the northern areas this winter, said Qiu.

China has until now retained a welfare heating supply system formed under the planned economy requiring the employer to pay for their employees' house heating. But more than 80 percent urban houses are now privately owned due to the progress of China's housing reform.

Qiu said the discord between the heating user and the payer has resulted in many disputes in the heating charges.

By 2002, the money owed for heating service in three northern cities of Shenyang, Harbin and Qiqiha'er have respectively accounted for 2.2 billion yuan, 1.2 billion yuan and 120 million yuan, said Qiu.

Qiu added that China will also change the heating charging standard from the housing area to the heating consumption.

He said the current method of charging for heating has brought great waste in the resources. At present, energy consumed in civil constructions has accounted for 25 percent of the national total, of which 60 percent is used for heating.

Energy used for heating in China is three times that of developed countries under the same conditions, said Qiu. The energy wasted in heating may not only worsen the air quality, but also block the introduction of overseas investment and influence the living environment.

By 2002, the house area with heating service in China's urban areas totaled 1.56 billion square meters, 40 percent of China's total house area, and its annual growth rate has topped 10 percent.

(People's Daily August 15, 2003)