As the heating season kicks off in Henan province, the number of people using electricity and gas to keep their homes warm has risen this winter.

More than 1.22 million families are using electricity or gas for heating this year, surpassing the "1 million families" goal set by the local government, the Henan Development and Reform Commission said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Nearly 1.03 million families are using electricity to heat their homes, and about 190,000 families are using gas, the commission said.

"Gas is limited in Henan", said Xue Dongfeng, an official from the Henan Development and Reform Commission.

"Heating issues are closely connected to people's lifestyles. More and more people are using air conditioning or gas for heating, while in some rural areas, clean coal is gradually replacing traditional coal," said Li Heping, chief of Henan Environment Protection Bureau.

It is estimated that using clean energy for heating has attracted social investment worth more than 9 billion yuan, reduced coal consumption by 2.05 million tons and benefited more than five million people in Henan, he said.

Chen Run'er, governor of Henan, said the government was making every effort to decrease pollution to achieve air quality goals.

The province has seen the average concentration of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter that is hazardous to human health — drop to 64 micrograms per cubic meter as of Tuesday, which exceeds the 2017 goal of 66 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the Henan Environmental Bureau.

"The electricity supply is a key element; green production allowed us to maximize resources and increase economic efficiency," said Liang Wenya, general manager of China Resources Electric Power Dengfeng Co.

The company supplies electricity to Zhengzhou, Xingyang and Dengfeng county.

Liang said they also planned to use waste heat recovery technology to provide clean energy for heating in Zhengzhou in the winter of 2019.

The province had 211 days of fairly good air quality by Wednesday, achieving the goal of more than 200 days in 2017, the government official said.

Zheng Jinran contributed to this story.

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