Today in energy: The cost of transporting coal to the U.S. electric power sector fell again in 2024

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923, Power Plant Operations Report

New data has been released on the electric power sector’s coal transportation costs. The release incorporates final data for 2024 from Form EIA-923, which we collect from electric power plant owners and operators. The data release includes tables with costs, in nominal and real (2024) dollars, across regions, states, and modes of transportation.

Data highlights

After accounting for inflation, the average cost of transporting coal to the electric power sector in the United States decreased from $19.23 per ton in 2023 to $17.55 per ton in 2024 (in 2024 dollars). In nominal terms, the cost fell from $18.77 in 2023 to $17.55 in 2024.

The inflation-adjusted average cost of transporting coal by truck and waterway to the electric power sector increased in 2024.

On a regional basis, marginal increases and decreases in prices were mixed across modes of transport and across states and coal supply. Overall, for prices reported in the table (not withheld for confidentiality reasons), the inflation-adjusted average cost of rail transport increased in the Uinta Basin but declined in the Powder River Basin, Illinois Basin, and Appalachia regions. By truck and waterway, the inflation-adjusted average costs increased in all cases except for a slight decrease in trucking costs in Northern Appalachia.

There were a few cases of more sizable price changes. For example:

• The cost of rail transport from the Northern Appalachia Coal Basin to West Virginia declined in real terms from $16.78 in 2023 to $9.87 in 2024. This increase is similar in size to an inflation-adjusted decline in the cost of rail transport within West Virginia ($9.21 in 2024 vs. $15.92 in 2023).
• The cost of rail transport from the Northern Appalachia Coal Basin to North Carolina decreased in real terms from $38.94 in 2023 to $34.95 in 2024. This decline is similar in size to an inflation-adjusted decrease in the cost of rail transport from Pennsylvania to North Carolina ($34.98 in 2024 vs. $38.36 in 2023).
• The cost of rail transport from the Powder River Basin to Kentucky decreased in real terms from $23.90 in 2023 to $17.09 in 2024. This increase is equivalent in size to an inflation-adjusted increase in the cost of rail transport from Wyoming to Kentucky ($17.09 in 2024 vs. $23.90 in 2023).

The overall volume of coal transport decreased across all modes of transport in 2024 compared with 2023, although shipments by truck declined only very slightly.