Cold comfort for heatless Beijingers

Thousands of Beijing residents have complained online and to heating companies that their central heating has still not been switched on, two days after the government promised citywide heating coverage.

Beijing Heating Group (BHG), responsible for heating 30 percent of the capital's homes and one of the largest heating companies in the city, told the Global Times Monday that teething problems are normal at the beginning of the heating season, and it takes several days to provide heat to all homes.　

Zhang Chuandong, BHG media officer, said they had received 16,000 complaint calls on Saturday alone.

"This is higher than the number of phone calls last year," he said. He did not specify how many calls they had received last year, but added that there were more calls because the heating provision started at a weekend, so more people were at home.

A resident of Daozuomiao residential compound in Haidian district, surnamed Ji, said the heating system in his apartment was not working after the government promised to provide heating on November 3, 12 days earlier than usual. He was forced to use his air conditioner for heat, he said.

"At least 4,000 residents in our compound are facing the same problem," he said.

Ji said that he tried to call the compound's property management company as well as the service hotline of the municipal heating company, but all the lines were busy.

"It's the first time I encountered heating problems since I moved in here three years ago," he said.

Another resident surnamed Jiang, who lives in Yulangyuan residential compound in Xicheng district, was one of the thousands who took to microblogs to post of their anger over the heating problems.

"My radiators are cold these days and the indoor temperature is just around 15 C," she told the Global Times, adding that her child is now ill with a cold.

"We called the heating company Saturday and were told the lack of heating was due to a pipe malfunction. Nobody has come to fix it," she said.

Jiang said that she was upset with the government's promise of providing a heating service earlier, but had ended up not implementing it well.

In the light of the public inquiries, Zhang said that BHG's 24-hour service hotline has been incredibly busy in the last few days, but that it is normal the heating system will not work at everybody's home at first.

"It usually takes about a week for the heating to work thoroughly," he said.

Zhang noted that there are over 1,600 heating companies in Beijing and BHG is just one of them.

"Some compounds or buildings have their own heating infrastructure that works independently from us," he said, "so their heating service is not under our control, even if the area falls under our remit," he said.

Wang Qingwen, media officer at Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment, which is responsible for the overall implementation of the city's heating system, said there were three reasons for the heating problems.　

One is that residents who live on top floors did not turn the general switch for the system on, so the hot water could not pass through the building's system. Other causes include the buildings not being insulated properly, or some external boilers were not functioning, he told the Global Times.

"The first reason is the major one, as far as I am concerned," he said.

Wang also noted that people could call 6235-7575 if they have heating problems. The Global Times called this hotline several times Monday, but the line was always busy.

"Since many people are calling, just call it again if it's busy," he noted.

According to the Beijing Evening News Monday, the commission had issued a notice asking residents to contact their property management company before calling the heating service hotline.

BHG visited 4,000 households in Beijing on Sunday, and said that in 90 percent of homes, the average temperature had reached 19 C, which is the standard temperature for inside heating in winter, the report said.