“The apartment hasn’t been lived in for a single day, yet the heating bill is still over 600 yuan a year.” In the past few days, discussion about the heating “vacancy fee” has heated up again. According to a Yicai report on October 8, Wu Kai (a pseudonym), a Xi’an resident whose unrenovated apartment has remained vacant, was still charged 30% of the total heating season cost, more than 600 yuan a year; Wang Tingyong, a Xi’an lawyer who sued the heating company, received his first-instance judgment on August 6 — his claims were dismissed, and he has prepared to appeal. With more than a month to go before heating starts on November 15 this winter, the shutdown application windows of various heating companies are open. On what legal basis is this money charged? Why did the lawsuit fail? Is it still too late to apply for a shutdown this year? This article explains it all at once.

1. This “Vacancy Fee” Is Legally Called the Basic Heating Fee

First, let’s get the name straight: what people online call the “heating vacancy fee” is officially called the basic heating fee. Article 45 of the Xi’an Regulations on Centralized Heating is explicit: users who stop or resume heat use shall apply to the heating enterprise no later than 15 days before the start of centralized heating in that year, and the heating enterprise shall reply within 5 working days. Users who stop using heat shall pay the basic heating fee to the heating enterprise.

The “30%” figure was not decided by the heat companies themselves: the Notice of the Xi’an Price Bureau and Xi’an Municipal Public Utilities Bureau on Further Clarifying Issues Concerning Urban Centralized Heating Prices stipulates that “for vacant apartments, the basic heating fee is charged at 30% of the total heating fee.” The higher-level basis also includes the Interim Measures for the Administration of Urban Heating Prices, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in 2007.

In terms of actual money: this winter, Xi’an residential heating fees follow Document Shi Wu Fa [2012] No. 265 (市物发〔2012〕265号), at 5.80 yuan per square meter per month, charged on the building area in four-month units. At 30%, that works out to about 1.74 yuan per square meter per month — for a vacant apartment of around 100 square meters, that’s anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand yuan per heating season, which is how Wu Kai’s 600-plus yuan came about. Separately, according to September announcements from several Xi’an heating enterprises, users who shut off heat this winter must pay 30% of the basic heating fee, and stage-based shutdown applications are not supported.

2. The Lawsuit Reached the Intermediate Court: Why He Lost at First Instance

Wang Tingyong’s case brought this “vacancy fee” dispute before a real court: he took delivery of his apartment in October 2022 but never moved in. In November 2024, when he went to pay that year’s heating fee, he was told he had to first pay the 2023 basic heating fee and a penalty of about 930 yuan, or the payment would not be processed. In order to get heating, he paid a total of 3,690.29 yuan, then sued Xi’an Thermal Power Heating Co., Ltd. at the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court on the grounds of “abuse of market dominance.”

This year, on August 6, the first-instance judgment was handed down: all his claims were dismissed. The court’s reasoning roughly has four layers:

  • The charge has a legal basis — Article 45 of the regulations plus the price bureau’s notice in black and white; 30% was not created by the heating enterprise on its own;
  • It does not target any individual — this charging method applies universally in Xi’an without differential treatment;
  • The costs are indivisible — even if vacant households don’t use heat, the fixed costs of network maintenance and heat-source standby do not decrease; if vacant households were fully exempted, the costs would only be shifted onto households with normal heat use;
  • Market dominance does not equal abuse — the court found that the enterprise holds a 100% market share within its pipeline coverage and has a dominant market position, but charging the basic heating fee itself does not constitute abuse.

According to Red Star News, Wang Tingyong has said he will appeal, and per the judgment, the court of second instance will be the Supreme People’s Court. He is not fighting just one lawsuit. Yicai reported that at the end of 2025, a heating company in Xi’an’s Gaoling District countersued homeowner Wei, who had defaulted on “vacancy fees” for three consecutive heating seasons, claiming 2,325.41 yuan in basic heating fees plus 2,054.11 yuan in late fees; the court ordered Wei to pay — you can be pursued for not paying.

3. The Heating Companies’ Reasons Should Also Be Laid Out

Disputes arise every year, and the heating companies’ arguments are fairly consistent: heat is different from water and electricity — water and electric meters can be zeroed and cut off, but heat conducts, and even with the valve shut off, heat transfers between units. Large-scale shutdowns also carry the risk of frozen and burst pipes; companies must maintain constant pressure and temperature in the network, and these fixed costs do not decrease because individual households shut off their heat. According to Yicai, when the Jilin Provincial Development and Reform Commission responded to a proposal from CPPCC committee members, it also noted: the indoor temperature of households with heat shut off is generally still above 0°C, and if the basic heating fee were abolished, the basic heat price and end-user heating prices would have to rise, which would instead harm the interests of households that have paid. Xi’an Urban Investment Group’s position is that the 30% effectively avoids excessively shifting fixed heating costs onto normal heat users — its disclosed bond annual reports show that its heating business lost hundreds of millions of yuan every year from 2021 to 2025.

But the criticism carries just as much weight: according to Yicai, Wu Kai retorted that electricity, natural gas, and tap water also run through pipelines as public services — should a “basic fee” be charged for those too? In the end, this is an old problem of cost allocation for public utilities, and neither side can convince the other.

4. Other Cities: Some Still Charge It, Some Have Abolished It

Still charging (compiled by Yicai): Xi’an, along with Beijing, Taiyuan, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Baotou, and Urumqi.

Already abolished or no longer charged: According to Yicai, Luoyang charged the basic heating fee at 25% of the heating price starting in 2007, and in August 2017 the municipal government’s executive meeting decided to abolish it — in earlier discussions, 70% of attendees recommended abolishing it, and the finance department simultaneously introduced a subsidy plan as a safety net. Shenyang, Dalian, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, and other cities have also stopped charging the basic heating fee in batches to users who proactively apply for shutdown.

Some are also pushing for reform: according to Yicai, during the 2026 Shaanxi provincial “two sessions,” multiple committee members proposed in their motions that in the short term the ratio should be moderately lowered following Tianjin and Changchun and linked to heating service quality; in the medium term, household-level metering should be promoted, learning from Yulin’s “two-part heating price”; and in the long term, the fee should be explicitly abolished.

5. In the Month Before Heating Starts, Several Things Can Be Done Right Now

  1. Ask about the shutdown deadline for vacant apartments first. Based on this year’s announcements from various companies, the deadline for applying for shutdown (vacancy) is mostly October 31, with some companies extending it to November 10; per the regulations, applications should be submitted 15 days before heating starts. Don’t wait until the last few days — call your own heating company’s customer service and ask clearly;
  2. Keep the paperwork after you’re done. Save the application time, receipts, and payment records — if a dispute ever arises, these are the first step of evidence;
  3. Understand the bill. The basic heating fee on a vacant apartment’s bill = total heating fee × 30%, about 1.74 yuan per square meter per month, charged in four-month units. This winter, stage-based shutdown is not supported; whether you apply or not is calculated for the entire heating season (this winter’s heating period runs from 2026-11-15 to 2027-03-15, 121 days in total);
  4. If you disagree, take the proper route. First report it to the heating company’s customer service and the 12345 government service hotline, keeping your records; if you want to go to court, refer to Wang Tingyong’s case — the courts currently support the 30% charge, so have realistic expectations about litigation costs and outcomes, and don’t count on “suing to get exempted”;
  5. Forward this to relatives and friends who own vacant apartments in Xi’an. Especially those managing vacant apartments for their parents — miss the October 31 deadline and you’ll pay for the entire heating season.

In Closing

Whether the vacancy fee should be charged and whether 30% is too high will keep being debated: the first instance was lost, and the second instance is still on the way; Shaanxi’s proposals have also been made, but whether and how to reform is a question for later. For ordinary people, there is only one practical thing right now — while the shutdown window is open, get what needs to be done done, and keep the receipts that need to be kept. Does your city still charge a vacancy fee? How much? Share in the comments and give a heads-up to friends in heating areas.

— Follow Shengxinyuan, and let’s make life’s matters clear, one by one.

Disclaimer

This article is a sharing of life experiences and a summary of public reports; it does not constitute legal advice. The judgment is at first instance with a second-instance procedure pending; case information is subject to the official written judgment. Charging and shutdown policies in different places are subject to the latest announcements of local heating authorities and heating enterprises. If this article is inconsistent with the latest official regulations, the official regulations prevail.