The investment banking community recently picked up on this trend and the EIA’s latest Today In Energy post details greater coal use in the US power sector compared with last year. Although power generators’ fuel portfolios vary by region, at the national level, higher 2013 natural gas prices relative to coal prices motivate utilities to dispatch the latter.

“Total natural gas use for power generation in the United States was down 14% during the first seven months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 (see chart), mostly because of higher natural gas prices relative to coal prices…This reduction generally occurred for average daily temperatures between 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, when power demand rose to levels that induced power companies to base the composition of their additional generation to meet this higher demand on relative fuel costs.”