The UnitedStates' electric power generation in April was fueled 34% by gas and 25% by coal,according to an SNL Energy analysis of recent data from the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration. The gap between gas and coal widened over the course of a year,as an SNL Energy analysisin 2015 found gas responsible for 31% of total generation, with coal contributing30%.

In April,a total of 29 states had more gas-fired generation than coal-fired generation, whilefour states did not produce any power fueled by gas.

Of these29 states, 11 produced more than 50% of their power in April with gas, while coal-firedgeneration made up at least 50% of the fuel mix for eight states. Since SNL Energy'sApril 2015 analysis, gas-fired power generation has beaten coal in five additionalstates, with gas overtaking coal in South Carolina by 138 GWh in October 2015 anddoing the same in Wisconsin, by 17 GWh, in March 2016.

In April2016, gas-generated power beat coal by 275 GWh in Arkansas, 559 GWh in Michiganand 62 GWh in New Mexico. About 95% of power generated in both Rhode Island andDelaware was fueled by natural gas.

Between2001 and 2010, electric generation powered by gas surpassed coal in 23 states forat least one month over the 10-year period. The number grew to 33 states between2011 and April 2016, as 10 additional states crossed this threshold.

The latestanalysis found a total of 17 states that have not yet seen gas generation surpasscoal for at least one month of the years between 2001 to April 2016: Colorado, Hawaii,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The U.S.EIA projects gas-firedgeneration will hit record levels in July and August 2016. Power produced from burninggas is expected to average 3.8 million MWh/d in 2016, which would be 4% higher thanin 2015.

SNL Energy is an offeringof S&P Global Market Intelligence.