U.S. Coal Use Rose 1.4% in Past Week, Genscape Says

U.S. coal consumption rose 1.4 percent in the week ended yesterday from the previous seven-day period, led by an advance in the East, according to an analysis by Genscape Inc.

Eastern power-plant use gained 2.8 percent while consumption in the West dipped 6.8 percent, the data provider said. Overall coal demand was 0.8 percent higher than a year earlier.

Genscape says it monitors coal use in real time at U.S. power producers with a device that’s installed at the plants. The company uses different models to reach its consumption figures, making it possible for regional data to conflict with national totals.

The data provider said it adjusted the estimates for this week and the past two after determining that its model was overstating coal burn in some regions.

National coal consumption in the week ended Dec. 9 rose 9.5 percent from the previous week, driven by a 10 percent surge in the East. For the week that ended Dec. 2, demand slipped 4 percent amid a 4.1 percent drop in the East, Genscape said in the amended reports.

The U.S., which holds the world’s largest reserves of coal, relies on the fuel for about half of its power generation, compared with about 20 percent for natural gas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.