Recently, district heating and cooling (DHC) systems based on combined cycle generation (CCG) providers are increasing in Korea. Since characteristics of combined heat and power (CHP) generators and heat demands of providers, heat trading between DHC providers based on the economic viewpoint is required; the heat trading has been doing. In this paper, a mathematical model for optimal operation based on heat trading between DHC providers is proposed. Especially, start-up characteristic of CCG is included. The operation model is established by mixed integer linear programming (MILP).