China has ordered coal producers to freeze 2011 contract prices of coal supplied to power stations, the Beijing Times reported Friday. Experts believed this move will ensure relatively stable electricity prices next year.

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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued a notice Monday requiring 2011 prices of thermal coal — coal used for power generation — under the "key contracts" to be kept at this year's level. The notice also required the contracts to be signed within 25 days.

About 700 million tons of thermal coal will be sold this year under the "key contracts," whose transportation is administrated by the Ministry of Railways. That is 20 million tons more than last year.

China's power groups are running deficits, and there is heavy pressure to hike the price of electricity. Xue Jing, director of the China Electricity Council's statistics department, attributed the losses to surging coal prices.

Xue said, to some extent, the order will ease the pressure on the power industry to raise prices.