State Grid Corp. of China, which supplies power to more than 1 billion people in the country, said thermal-coal stockpiles fell 8 percent over two weeks, potentially worsening a nationwide electricity shortage.

The coal inventories at power plants supplying electricity to State Grid dropped to 31.83 million metric tons as of yesterday from 34.64 million tons two weeks ago, said Liu Xinfang, a public relations official at the company. China's power shortage has reached 14,000 megawatts, Liu said.

China relies on coal for almost 80 percent of its electricity generation. Insufficient fuel supplies forced the closure of 2.5 percent of the nation's coal-fired power plants, State Grid said on July 7. Government restrictions on transporting hazardous materials near Olympic venues also disrupted some coal production, Zhang Wenjiang, assistant general manager of Shenhua Group Corp., said last week.

``The coal stocks are still enough for more than 10 days of consumption on average,'' Liu said by phone in Beijing today.

To boost power supplies during the Olympic Games next month, the government has ordered a tripling in coal deliveries to the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region to 2.12 million tons in July from June, he said.

Small mines in Shanxi, the province that leads China's coal output, have had to halt blasting because of the limited availability of explosives, Zhang said on July 17, referring to the government's transportation ban. Shenhua Group is the nation's largest producer of the fuel.

Summer Shortfall

China may face a worse-than-expected electricity shortfall of 18,000 megawatts when demand peaks in summer, Dai Hongcai, an analyst at State Grid said last week. State Grid is the larger of the nation's two power distributors.

The sixth year of shortages has prompted local governments to limit electricity consumption and issue warnings on possible blackouts.

Shanxi, which has issued a ``red'' alert, will ``resolutely'' limit power supplies to energy-intensive and polluting factories, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said on July 7. The central province of Henan restricted electricity use in eight cities as power plants shut because of fuel shortages, Xinhua News Agency reported on June 27.