A worker checks heating facilities at a heating supply company in Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu province on Oct 28. Lanzhou started to supply heat on Oct 29. [Photo/Xinhua]

A total of 12 provinces and autonomous regions in northern China have started to supply heating, as the cold fronts arrived early to bring the temperature below zero, Xinhua reported.

Residents in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shannxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Shandong provinces and Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions have commenced heating their houses as of Nov 1.

At the heating monitor center of Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, a big electronic screen shows the real-time status of more than a hundred residential houses' indoor temperatures and over 30 key heating supply companies' indoor temperatures. Local residents can also call a hotline if they have heating problems.

"It is a very important work to enhance the heating quality and protect people from cold in the collective heating regions," said Liu Guiliang, deputy director of Shenyang heating management office.

Liaoning invested 8.03 billion yuan ($1.19 billion) to renovate 2,068 km of old pipelines and build new facilities to improve heating quality.

Other regions have also fully prepared funds, coal supply and equipment maintenance.

Xining, capital of Northwest China's Qinghai province and Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have provided heating for more than two weeks. Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province and Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province supplied heating in advance taking into account the weather.

Some regions promise to return fees if indoor temperatures failed to meet the standard. A new policy, rolled out by Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, stipulates that the responsible party will be fined if indoor temperatures do not reach 16 degrees Celsius.

As heating will worsen the air pollution, many regions vowed to ensure both people's livelihood and blue skies by raising the ratio of clean energy used and furnishing old houses with thermal insulating layers.

Heating supply companies in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province have invested more than 60 million yuan to transform the flue gas desulphurization and dust removal facilities to reduce emissions.

Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, now has 186 million square meters of areas that use clean energy for heating, accounting for 98 percent of the city's heated area.