Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, began supplying heating to its residents on Saturday, four days earlier than usual, as temperatures dropped sharply from Friday, the city's housing and urban-rural development bureau said.
 
Heilongjiang had completed the overhaul of heating facilities across the province by Saturday, and all its cities and regions have started to supply heating to residents in advance or on schedule.
 
To ensure the quality of heating supplies this winter, local housing bureaus have carried out comprehensive investigation and rectification of hidden problems in heating source security, heating exchange stations, network operation and the temperatures of residents' rooms since May.
 
Residents in 13 cities and regions, including Heihe, Yichun and Suihua, have been enjoying warm rooms as outdoor temperatures continue to drop in late autumn.
 
In Harbin, the housing bureau and the city's industry and information technology bureau have actively coordinated with coal mines and railway departments to help guide heating suppliers to sign coal purchase contracts and railway transportation support agreements in advance.
 
The 46 heating supply enterprises in the city have reserved over 5 million metric tons of coal, with a coal storage rate of about 52 percent, a 7.7 percentage point increase compared with last year.
 
The province's early heating service has given greater attention to energy supply given rising prices and increasing demand from other northern provinces as the heating season approaches.
To guarantee energy supply, China Railway Harbin Group said it has taken effective measures to transport coal for power generation.
 
The group increased the number of empty coal loading carriages and has given priority to the loading of coal for power generation and heating since early this month.
 
During the National Day holiday, the group recorded daily coal loading of 4,281 carriages, which was 445 more than during the same period last year.
 
Suifenhe Railway Port, on the China-Russia border in Heilongjiang, has boosted coal imports to meet rising demand from power producers and heating suppliers in North China.
 
The port logged the importation of 36,600 tons of coal from Russia during the National Day holiday from Oct 1 to 7. The daily average volume of coal imports reached more than 5,000 tons, up 20.9 percent compared with the average in the first three quarters of this year, Suifenhe railway station said.