Who wants to use it most? Exploring public willingness to pay for district heating in hotly debated southern Chinese cities.

The feasibility of district heating in Southern China has been hotly debated, with people's willingness to adopt (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) becoming critical issues. Based on unique survey data on 2908 residents in South China, this paper measures consumers' WTA and WTP for district heating and uses the logit model and interval regression model to analyze the influence of potential critical factors. The results show that: (1) People in the south who haven't adopted district heating have strong WTAs. However, residents exhibit obvious heterogeneity in their WTP. The mean WTP stands at 4.19 yuan per square meter per month, falling below the prevailing tariff imposed by local condominiums equipped with it. (2) Acceptability of initial installation cost contributes to public's WTA and WTP significantly. For each additional level of increase in affordability, unit WTP rises by 0.469 RMB. (3) WTA and WTP is also considerably higher for households with elderly member. This paper concludes that heating modes in northern cities may not be suitable for the south. District heating might be first promoted in areas with higher WTP, such as neighborhoods with better affordability and households with the aged. While step-by-step implementation can be considered in other areas. • There is a strong willingness to adopt DHS among residents of Southern China. • Average WTP falls below the rate charged by local DHS providers. • People's willingness to pay varies greatly. • WTP is higher for more affordable households and those with older members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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