State Grid Corp of China, supplier of electricity to more than a billion people, said the coal stockpiles of power plants connected to its network have risen after the government took steps to boost supplies of the fuel.

The coal inventories of 541 power plants increased 7 percent to 33.67 million tons as of Wednesday compared with July 31, Liu Xinfang, a public relations official at State Grid, told Bloomberg News on Thursday. The nation produces almost 80 percent of its electricity from coal.

China, facing its sixth year of power shortages, is rationing electricity in the provinces of Shandong, Hubei, Shanxi and Liaoning. The 7-percent increase in coal stocks is not sufficiently large to have an "obvious" impact on the power shortfalls, State Grid's Liu said.

"At least the government has expressed its commitment to improve the situation, and the measures it announced have had some effect," Liu said. China has ordered coal producers to increase deliveries to power stations to help ease electricity shortages and ensure adequate supplies for the Olympic Games, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said.

(Shanghai Daily August 8, 2008)