The central government has kicked off small-scale experiments in various cities to prepare for a nationwide reform of the central-heating system, believed to be the last welfare benefit of the planned economy.

The experiments started in about 15 northern provinces early this month.

"This will trigger an operation on the final welfare system left over from the planned economy," said Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of construction.

The main purpose of the reform is to set up a scientific mechanism in which individual users pay according to the quantity and quality of the heating service, noted Qiu, adding that the nation plans to build a market-oriented heating supply system over the next 10 years.

Office clerk Guo Wei and more than 1,000 neighbors living in a new community near the Dongzhimen area of downtown Beijing were chosen to participate in the test. They will pay according to how much heat they use. They used to pay according to the size of their apartments.

Since the test started, Guo turns the heat down a little bit to lower the room temperature every morning before he leaves for work.

"There is no need to keep the temperature at a high degree since no one is in the room," he said.

Many of Guo's neighbors do the same. This, however, would have been unimaginable before, because most heating fees used to be paid by people's work units. Just like a free apartment, free medicine and free higher education, a free central heating system was also an important part of the social welfare system in the nation's planned economy, which lasted for decades.

"It was a privilege of the employees of state-owned enterprises in north China at that time to enjoy an almost-free heating service, which seems irrational in the current situation," said Liu Min, a senior researcher with Gansu Academy of Social Sciences.

The system encountered serious challenges a couple of years ago. Many state-owned enterprises could not afford heating fees, while individual consumers refused to pay. "Many people decline to pay, because they thought the service was not good enough. In fact, the problem was that we had to maintain the heat supply but could not get refunded," said Wang Ning, deputy general manager of the Lanzhou Heating Power Plant in Gansu.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2003)