Taiyuan in North China's Shanxi province is set to upgrade the heating facilities in 109 of its villages in the next two years, replacing outdated coal burners with cleaner and more efficient electric heating.

Benefitting some 22,000 households, the upgrades come as a part of Shanxi's coal-to-electricity transformation initiative which came into effect last May.

As a pilot area of the initiative, Taiyuan carried out coal-to-electricity conversions for 2,010 households across three villages in 2016.

"The electric heating system is much better than coal," said Zhang Xilai, a resident from Xigaobai village. "We can adjust the time and temperature as we wish. And the electricity bills are available on our mobile phones. The yard is also cleaner without the heaps of coal."

Shanxi's coal-to-electricity policy has contributed to a reduction in air pollution and promoted structural adjustment and the technological advance of heat supply in urban and suburban areas.