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https://scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3205714/gas-cutoffs-chinas-rural-hebei-set-chilling-complaints-put-heat-local-officials China Economy
Gas cutoffs in China’s rural Hebei set off chilling complaints that put the heat on local officials
- Subfreezing temperatures in the province that surrounds China’s capital city of Beijing have left rural residents desperate for a respite from the winter cold
- Authorities admit that officials at lower levels failed to secure adequate supplies of natural gas, resulting in residents being unable to heat their homes or cook food
Bitterly cold residents of China’s Hebei province are complaining about not being able to access sufficient gas to heat their homes this winter. Photo: Getty Images
Natural gas outages and purchasing restrictions in the northern Chinese province that surrounds Beijing have left rural residents without heat in subfreezing temperatures, as their local government authorities failed to place enough orders with gas suppliers to meet demand, according to higher-ranking officials.
Bitterly cold residents of Hebei province have responded by filing complaints with local government authorities regarding the limited access to natural gas for heating and cooking.
“[Our village] has not been able to purchase natural gas, so we couldn’t heat up our homes properly. The elderly have only recently recovered from Covid and are still weak – they are freezing at home,” commented an internet user identifying themselves as a rural resident of Nijiazhuang village in Hebei’s Xingtai city.
The comment, posted on Friday, was left on the message board of People.cn, the online portal for Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, where government authorities can directly respond to citizen complaints.
On Wednesday, authorities from Xingtai replied to the comment, saying an investigation had determined that the district-level Bureau of Development and Reform, as well as China Gas, failed to sign contracts with suppliers to secure enough natural gas to meet demand this year, resulting in difficulties in supplying natural gas to residents, and in purchasing limits.
“Regarding this issue, the district has coordinated with the Bureau of Development and Reform and China Gas Holdings to actively negotiate with authorities to fight for policy support, sign more contracts to fill the gap to satisfy demand, and solve the problem promptly,” the authorities replied.
Despite the reported natural gas shortages in Hebei, nationally, China’s natural gas demand is expected to be subdued this year due to the slowing economy, which has been suppressed by factors such as the spread of Covid-19, a housing market downturn and weak exports.
Hebei’s Baoding city also attributed the purchasing limits to insufficient orders in the contracts with suppliers, and authorities there said they have asked the gas company to “exhaust all means to make sure residents have enough gas”.
Numerous complaints were levied by Hebei residents regarding similar issues.
Another comment from mid-December, made by an internet user hailing from Xingtai’s Dongxiaoma village, said they had been suffering from frequent and unexpected natural gas outages since temperatures began to plunge.
“In addition, we have a purchasing limit of 150 cubic metres per month,” the person said, lamenting that this was not even enough to heat their home, while cooking has also been curtailed.
“Now, with the frequent supply outages, our lives have been severely disrupted – we don’t have heat, we have kids in the house, and even cooking is a challenge.”
Other complaints also mentioned frequent gas outages cutting off heating at night when the temperatures have been consistently below freezing, and many residents have reportedly fallen ill amid the cold.
Officials in Hebei’s Handan city also responded to complaints on the message board, saying that the gas outages at night were due to insufficient pipe pressure, and that the problem was being fixed, with upgrades due to be finished in the coming days.
Hebei residents faced similar heating outages in the wintry cold of 2017, when the province was tapped to be one of the nation’s pioneers in its clean-energy transition, as China accelerated its drive to burn less coal and natural gas in a bid to reduce air pollution in the capital Beijing.
But the subsequent natural gas shortages left many residents in northern parts of China shivering in freezing temperatures. Many were unable to make the government-mandated switch from coal to gas-heating systems, or they simply couldn’t afford the gas for heating and cooking.