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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Coal minister assure uninterrupted supply of coal to power plants

Tuesday, 08 Nov 2011

The Coal Ministry has assured uninterrupted supply of coal to power plants hit by shortfalls in supply of the fuel, but while quantities will be earmarked for the generation companies, they will have to secure their requirement through competitive bidding.

Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal coal minister said that "We are open to continue offering e-auction coal for power plants. We can also earmark coal for them to ensure availability. But they have to buy at the auction price. I have told NTPC about this.”

With around 30 power plants running with critical coal stocks, state run Coal India had diverted an additional 10% of its output, or 4 million tonnes, for e-auction to tide over a power crisis in October.

That month, power companies had to buy coal meant for e-auction at a price almost 40 per cent higher than the notified price.

The Power Ministry has been lobbying to stop the e auction of coal on account of short supply to power plants. This would have impacted CIL, as the miner sells about 10 to 11% of its coal output through the e-auction route, which accounts for between 25 to 30% of its total annual revenue.

(Sourced from ET)

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