Burton have won seven and drawn one of their last eight League One games
Burton remained top of League One after beating promotion rivals Coventry.
Visiting keeper Jon McLaughlin twice denied James Maddison in the first half, while Damien McCrory tested home stopper Reice Charles-Cook.
But early in the second half Calum Butcher opened the scoring when he capitalised on a defensive error.
Albion's Stuart Beavon hit the bar but then made no mistake in the 72nd minute when he latched onto Anthony O'Connor's long ball before coolly finishing.
City's failure to win at home against League One promotion rivals for the second time in five days, following the 1-1 midweek draw with Walsall, now leaves them four points shy of an automatic promotion place.
Sky Blues boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"Well done to them. It's difficult for us to take. It was going to be decided by a mistake. We knew that by half-time.
"A mistake cost us ultimately. We're talking about concentration. We knew it was going to be difficult to get back into it.
"We have to put it behind us very quickly, focus on the next game, and get back to winning ways as soon as we can."
Burton boss Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Derby:
Clough on Coventry v Burton
"We were nervous early on. We had this problem for the Doncaster game in December when we hadn't played for a while.
"It took us a while to get going and it did again. Jon McLaughlin had to make a couple of very good saves in the first half.
"But we were much much better in the second half. We scored the two goals, hit the bar and restricted them to very little."
- Published20 June 2016
- Published7 June 2019
