WUHAN - Thermal power plants in 6 provinces lost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion) last year, as the continuous rise of coal prices squeezed the profit margin of the country's power industry, new data has showed.

The 2011 total losses of thermal power companies in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing municipality -- were 13.64 billion yuan, 5.096 billion yuan more than 2010, according to a report released on Tuesday by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission's Central China bureau.

The report also said the area's hydropower companies made a profit of 15.489 yuan in 2011, 1.313 billion yuan less than the previous year.

Officials with the bureau said, with the rise of coal prices, the fortunes of thermal power enterprises have been going downhill since 2008.

Although China raised the price of electricity three times last year, it failed to arrest their downward slide, the officials added.