(Corrects year in paragraph 4 to 2021, not 2019) BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters) - China’s coal imports in September rose to their highest this year as power plants scrambled for fuel to boost electricity generation to ease the power crunch and replenish inventories ahead of the winter heating season. China, the world’s biggest coal consumer, brought in 32.88 million tonnes of coal last month, up 76% from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. That was up from 28.05 million tonnes in August. Over the first three quarters of 2021, China imported 230.4 million tonnes of coal, down 3.6% year-on-year. (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Shivani Singh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.