Through investigation of the Dengfeng heating network in the city of Daqing, China, for the 2007-2008 heating season, we found serious problems of excessive heat supply in the primary heating network. Therefore, we propose the application of gas-fired boilers in underperforming heating substations as peak-load heat sources to effectively adapt to the regulation demands of seasonal heat-load fluctuations and reduce the excessive heat supply. First, we calculated the excessive heat supply rates (EHSRs) of five substations using detailed investigative data. We then discussed the feasibility of the proposed scheme providing energy savings from both energetic and exergetic points of view. The results showed that the average EHSR of the five substations between January and March was 20.57% of the gross heat production but consequently reduced to 6.24% with the installation of the gas-fired boilers. Therefore, the combined heating scheme with coal as the basic heat-source and gas-fired boilers as peak-load heat sources is energy-efficient to some extent, although requires the use of natural gas. Meanwhile, the exergy decreased by 10.97%, which indicates that the combined heating scheme effectively reduces the primary energy consumption and pollutant emission of the heating systems. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.