Power from coal (or nuclear) plants built some years ago and now paid off is pretty danged cheap. And, of course, heavy electricity users are going to migrate to places where power is cheaper.

Where your thinking breaks down is in not realizing that those older coal (and nuclear) plants are wearing out and will need to be replaced. New coal (and nuclear) plants are very expensive.

You cannot generate power from a newly built coal (or nuclear) plants as cheaply as you can generate power from a new wind farm, geothermal plant, hydro plant and, in some parts of the country, a new solar array.

And we didn’t even add in the extra cost of burning coal that eat up your tax dollars and raise you health insurance premiums.

Do you know how much you’re spending in tax and premium dollars because we’re burning coal?

China will be capping their coal use in 2015.

Any increase in use at the moment will likely be temporary.

http://www.powermag.com/coal/THE-BIG-PICTURE-Coal-Demand-Surges_4591.html