A new freezing spell has intensified the shortage of heating energy, including electricity and natural gas, in Chinese cities.

Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang province, had a shortage of natural gas for the second time this winter on Wednesday and Thursday, said Xiang Min, an official with Hangzhou Gas Group.

The shortfall of 170,000 cubic meters gas was less severe than the last in November as the company had provided 1.65 million cubic meters of gas, 100,000 cubic meters more than predicted, Xiang said.

The company had cut provision of 140,000 cubic meters in the districts of Xiaoshan, Yuhang and Haining.

Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, had similar problems.

The city had a daily shortage of 400,000 cubic meters of gas, said Yu Guohua, spokesman of Wuhan Natural Gas Company.

The company started restrictions on gas supply from December 13 in some industrial companies and government institutions.

As of December 8, the storage was 1.13 million tons, 2.79 million tons less than last year, the official said.

The municipal government decreased the electricity supply to more than 6,000 companies from Tuesday.

In Xi'an, capital of Southwest China's Shaanxi province, taxi drivers said they had to wait for more than half an hour to refuel in a repeat of the queues that formed in November.

Temperatures plummeted in Beijing, Shanghai and many other Chinese provinces, including Guangdong, Anhui, Shaanxi and Shandong, from Tuesday, causing flight delays and highway closures.