Villagers in northern Hebei province are struggling to pay their heating bills, with most gas subsidies now being phased out nearly a decade after China began restricting coal burning to stem thick winter smog.
In 2017, Beijing ordered dozens of northern regions to stop using coal-fired stoves and switch to electricity and natural gas power systems.
China’s central government allocated funds to retrofit stoves, but after three years the subsidies disappeared and additional aid was significantly reduced, local media reported this week.
In Xushui County, Hebei Province, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Beijing, villagers told AFP they avoided turning on the heating because it drained their income.
“Ordinary people can’t afford it… spending 1,000 yuan ($143) a month for heating – no one can bear it,” a resident in his 60s told AFP at a farmers’ market.
“Everyone likes (the air) to be clean. No one doesn’t like it,” he said, asking not to be named for fear of “trouble.”
“But … cleaning (the air) is expensive,” he added.
The weather was clear and sunny on the day AFP visited, with the highest temperature just below six degrees Celsius and the lowest temperature at minus seven degrees Celsius.
Restaurant worker Yin Chunlan said her elderly parents-in-law need to pay up to 7,000 yuan a year to heat their six village houses.
Yin, 48, who lives in an apartment in town, said her annual bill is a third of that.
“But the situation in the village is different,” she told AFP.
“They have to turn the heat up higher and it’s still not that hot, so it’s a waste of gas and a waste of money.”
Yin’s parents-in-law often put extra blankets on them to keep warm.
“When I saw it, it was quite pitiful.” Yin said, wiping tears. “Nothing can be done.”
In one village, a woman in her 70s was wearing a green cotton-padded jacket under her apron as she walked through an outdoor courtyard.
She said the heating in her home was not turned on during the day and showed AFP the system switchboard mounted above the stove, which read “off”.
The unnamed woman said the dial temperature can reach 60 degrees Celsius. When asked if it was just as warm inside, she laughed.
– The article was removed –
In the first week of the new year, Chinese social media was abuzz with reports of villagers in Hebei tucking themselves in quilts to avoid expensive heating bills.
The commentary section of state media CCTV retweeted an article from Farmers Daily saying that natural gas prices in rural areas of Hebei are as high as 3.4 yuan per cubic meter, while in rural areas of Beijing the price is 2.6 yuan per cubic meter.
Villagers told AFP they believed the huge price gap was unfair.
But the original article was quickly deleted, and republished articles, including the CCTV article, became inaccessible days later.
The Ministry of Finance stated that in 2021, Hebei Province’s clean heating funds will total 13.2 billion yuan.
But the company said in a letter that a three-year subsidy to support the installation of new systems and gas bills would not be renewed.
The move comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine pushes up international gas prices. Last year, Chinese authorities reported slowing growth in natural gas consumption across the country.
In response to local suggestions to increase financial support for provincial pollution prevention and control, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said it would arrange special funds to provide additional subsidies to rural areas, but did not disclose specific implementation details.
The Xushui local government platform said in 2017 that some households would be eligible for a 300 yuan gas subsidy.
For villager Zhang Yanjun, the money has little impact on his quarterly bills of several thousand yuan.
The 55-year-old worker said that since October, his home’s heating bill has exceeded 5,000 yuan.
“If you give 300 yuan, 200 yuan or whatever, it’s the same as if you don’t give any subsidy at all,” he said.
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