That’s because the price of natural gas dropped from a high of more than $8 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in early 2014 to less than $1.70 per MMBtu in early 2016. Low-priced natural gas brought another cheap source for power generation into the market. But since then, the price of natural gas has climbed back to more than $3 per MMBtu in most regions. Coal prices, on the other hand, remain near record lows. That’s another reason why we can expect at least a short-term bump in coal use. As you can see in the previous chart, the EIA forecasts coal use to run neck and neck with natural gas as fuel for electricity through the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the following chart shows coal and natural gas are mostly competitive when it comes to production costs...
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