Heat Watch 2012
It's late October, so it must be time for me to kick off Heat Watch for this winter.
For the uninitiated, this is a now-annual series of blog posts I write during those chilly autumn weeks while we wait for the start of Beijing's heating season. From November 15 (or so) until March 15 (or so), the city supplies steam heat to all buildings that are on the central heating system. We are welcome to plug in electric heaters and wear all the layers we like before, during, and after those four months. Still, high electric bills are a deterrent to relying too much on the space heaters.
This fall has been fairly kind to us, temperature wise. We have yet to turn on the space heater in our apartment, though I am not sure if it is because these weeks have been warmer this year than past years, or we are just better at handling the absence of heat. There have only been two nights that I have gone to bed wearing my slippers, so it hasn't been terribly cold for us. Up in the mountains, in the villages around the Great Wall, we've noticed that the kang everywhere have been lit at least at night for over a month. Then again, it is really cold out there.
Today I paid our heating bill for the entire season. Since last year, there have been some changes in the way this is done in Changping.
More after the jump
In the last two years, all we've had to do to pay our heating bill is walk about half a block from our building to a small office in the complex where our heat is produced. It was a dark, grimy, coal-dusty place, though staffed with friendly people who easily remembered us and almost our precise address. Last year, the heating system in Changping was reorganized, and would then be managed by a company called 永安热力, Yong'an Reli. I don't think this was a Milton Friedman-esque move towards privatization, but rather a new name and structure. We didn't see any difference last year from the previous year, except we did not receive any free cooking oil.
Just this past Thursday I guessed it would be a good time to try to pay our heating bill. I walked over to the usual place and had difficulty remembering where exactly the office was. I had to wake a napping guard to ask him where to pay our bill. He told me it moved. After he described to me how to walk to this other office, I had a general idea of where it was, but not exactly. A text message from my landlord this morning confirmed the actual address so I could try to pay again the next day.
I went to the new location afternoon. I was surprised to see the new office of the Yong'an Reli company was more like a giant bank than the dingy buildings under a coal-fired heat plant. There was a decorative fountain running out front, and in the lobby I could hear another one as well. The inside was set up like a bank, too, with a dozen windows staffed by young, women in the same dark-suiting uniforms of banks and real estate agencies A touchscreen machine spit out numbers to the queue. I took mine and waited.
When it was my turn, I handed the woman at the window my residence permit so she could see our address. I was surprised to hear from her that the price for this season was the about same as the last two, 2919 RMB, which today is $466. While coal prices have tumbled this year, I was not expecting a lower payment this time. I suspected we may have finally been charged a price increase this year, if only to make up for any shortfall caused by last year's pre-season escalating coal prices. I asked her when to expect heat this year, and she said, as expected, November 15. I wanted to ask about the rumors that heating season may start earlier this year. I started to say that I had heard maybe something else, but she repeated firmly the official start date.
Leaving the building, I didn't want to to get too excited when I saw some wispy smoke escaping the smokestack right there. Maybe it was a sign that heating season would begin sooner than expected.
Even though this stack was showing signs that something was being burned inside, the stack much closer to our house was still dormant. It looks like we may actually have to wait until November 15. We'll see, too, if now the heat is managed by Yong'an Heating, it makes a difference to us.
For the uninitiated, this is a now-annual series of blog posts I write during those chilly autumn weeks while we wait for the start of Beijing's heating season. From November 15 (or so) until March 15 (or so), the city supplies steam heat to all buildings that are on the central heating system. We are welcome to plug in electric heaters and wear all the layers we like before, during, and after those four months. Still, high electric bills are a deterrent to relying too much on the space heaters.
This fall has been fairly kind to us, temperature wise. We have yet to turn on the space heater in our apartment, though I am not sure if it is because these weeks have been warmer this year than past years, or we are just better at handling the absence of heat. There have only been two nights that I have gone to bed wearing my slippers, so it hasn't been terribly cold for us. Up in the mountains, in the villages around the Great Wall, we've noticed that the kang everywhere have been lit at least at night for over a month. Then again, it is really cold out there.
Today I paid our heating bill for the entire season. Since last year, there have been some changes in the way this is done in Changping.
More after the jump
In the last two years, all we've had to do to pay our heating bill is walk about half a block from our building to a small office in the complex where our heat is produced. It was a dark, grimy, coal-dusty place, though staffed with friendly people who easily remembered us and almost our precise address. Last year, the heating system in Changping was reorganized, and would then be managed by a company called 永安热力, Yong'an Reli. I don't think this was a Milton Friedman-esque move towards privatization, but rather a new name and structure. We didn't see any difference last year from the previous year, except we did not receive any free cooking oil.
Just this past Thursday I guessed it would be a good time to try to pay our heating bill. I walked over to the usual place and had difficulty remembering where exactly the office was. I had to wake a napping guard to ask him where to pay our bill. He told me it moved. After he described to me how to walk to this other office, I had a general idea of where it was, but not exactly. A text message from my landlord this morning confirmed the actual address so I could try to pay again the next day.
I went to the new location afternoon. I was surprised to see the new office of the Yong'an Reli company was more like a giant bank than the dingy buildings under a coal-fired heat plant. There was a decorative fountain running out front, and in the lobby I could hear another one as well. The inside was set up like a bank, too, with a dozen windows staffed by young, women in the same dark-suiting uniforms of banks and real estate agencies A touchscreen machine spit out numbers to the queue. I took mine and waited.
When it was my turn, I handed the woman at the window my residence permit so she could see our address. I was surprised to hear from her that the price for this season was the about same as the last two, 2919 RMB, which today is $466. While coal prices have tumbled this year, I was not expecting a lower payment this time. I suspected we may have finally been charged a price increase this year, if only to make up for any shortfall caused by last year's pre-season escalating coal prices. I asked her when to expect heat this year, and she said, as expected, November 15. I wanted to ask about the rumors that heating season may start earlier this year. I started to say that I had heard maybe something else, but she repeated firmly the official start date.
Leaving the building, I didn't want to to get too excited when I saw some wispy smoke escaping the smokestack right there. Maybe it was a sign that heating season would begin sooner than expected.
Even though this stack was showing signs that something was being burned inside, the stack much closer to our house was still dormant. It looks like we may actually have to wait until November 15. We'll see, too, if now the heat is managed by Yong'an Heating, it makes a difference to us.
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