SUGAR LAND--October 19, 2021--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--This year marks the first since 2014 that the U.S. has seen a year-over-year increase in coal-fired power generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. The increase comes not just from an overall rise in electricity usage this year following a decline in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however. Electricity providers often lean more heavily toward either coal or natural gas for generation depending on the price of each commodity, and this year, natural gas prices have been much higher.