WB govt to seek re-allotment of 10 coal blocks

Friday, Feb 23, 2012

Kolkata: The West Bengal government will seek re-allotment of 10 coal blocks that were offered during the Left Front regime but were not taken up by the state. The blocks included the one earmarked for the West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL).

"We are sending a letter to Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal tomorrow seeking re-allotment of 10 coal blocks, including one earmarked for the WBPDCL, which were given to the state during the previous Left Front regime but not taken," Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters here.

The Centre had allotted 16 coal blocks in all but only six were taken by the previous government. He said that the state government would honour all the pre-conditions required for acquiring the blocks.

Chatterjee also said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently for a national iron ore policy for equitable distribution of the mineral from bearing to non-bearing states for the development of the steel industry.

"Steel industry is affected for want of equitable distribution of iron ore from Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and partly Madhya Pradesh to the non-bearing states," the minister said.

(sourced BS)

NTPC projects in WB Bihar and Orissa worst hit by coal shortage - CEA

Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011

Press Trust of India reported that state run NTPC's power projects in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa are the worst affected in the eastern region due to the ongoing coal supply crisis as actual generation at these plants is much lower than targeted.

A Central Electricity Authority official said “Problem in the eastern region power plants of NTPC is mainly due to coal shortage and coal handling problems,"

He told “Eastern Coalfields is supplying coal to NTPC's eastern region plants. Coal transportation, which is through railways, is a problem, therefore, the hiccups.”

The coal at these project sites is supplied by Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of state owned Coal India.

(Sourced from PTI)

Power crisis looms in West Bengal as utilities run out of cash for coal

Daily power-cuts as long as 4-5 hours in West Bengal

By Pratim Ranjan Bose

Oct12, 2011
Kolkata :Nearly 90 lakh subscribers in West Bengal, barring Kolkata, now face daily power-cuts as long as 4-5 hours with the State utilities running out of money to pay for coal.

With declining own generation, official estimates suggest the average shortfall in the State is now running up to 600 MW a day.
Revenue gap

According to sources, fearing the frown of the Mamata Banerjee-led government, the power utilities (in generation or distribution) did not approach the regulator for tariff revision this year, and are now incurring a combined cash-loss of over Rs 200 crore a month.

The generation utility, West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL), alone is facing a revenue gap of Rs 140 crore for supplying electricity at 25 per cent below cost price.
Outstanding to CIL

In the absence of budgetary support from the State Government, which is facing highest revenue gap among all States, WBPDCL has run up a huge outstanding of Rs 500 crore to three Coal India subsidiaries.

The bill had actually swelled to Rs 600 crore, inviting repeated reminders (and even stoppage of delivery) from CIL.

While a payment of around Rs 100 crore ensured coal supplies during Durga Puja, the situation worsened soon after the festival. As against a minimum requirement of 15-odd rakes (of 3,500 tonnes each), the coal arrivals are now 9-11 rakes a day.

The State's Power Minister, Mr Manish Gupta, admits that coal delivery, especially from Eastern Coal Fields (ECL), has been affected due to “issues related to delay in payment.”

However, he denied the existence of any funds crisis. He had also blamed CIL for arbitrarily raising prices with effect from February.

“CIL, being a PSU, should ensure supplies to the State at an affordable price,” Mr Gupta said. He was sure the power situation would return to normal in a couple of days.
Precarious situation

Meanwhile, utilities have raised nearly Rs 2,100 crore short-term loans to meet the cash shortfall. While WBPDCL has already exhausted its credit limit and is finding it difficult to raise more funds, the distribution utility has scope to raise Rs 200 crore more — enough to run the show for two more months.

The 25 lakh consumers of CESC Ltd in Kolkata are, however, not facing a crisis, as of now.

Keywords: Power crisis, Coal, West Bengal, daily power-cuts, Electricity

(sourced Business Line)

Coal price puts CIL subsidiary in quandary

Mar13,2011 at 1042 hrs IST
By Indronil Roychowdhury

A 150% hike in prices of A and B grade coal has put Coal India Ltd (CIL) subsidiary Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) in a fix. With the hike, the notified price will touch the premium price point it realised for supplies under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) and it can hamper consumers’ interest.

ECL has MOAs with NTPC, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), CESC, Durgapur Projects (DPL) and SAIL to supply 7 million tonne of A and B grade thermal coal of 5,500 kilo calories, equal to the calorific value of imported coal.

The companies under the MOA, pay a premium price of R4,950 per tonne for A grade coal and R4,800 per tonne for B grade coal against notified prices of R1,600 (A grade) and 1,520 (B grade) per tonne for an assured supply.

But after a 150% hike, the notified prices for A and B grade coal has gone up to R4,000 and R3,990 per tonne respectively, which at the consumers end touches R4,947 and R4,799 per tonne respectively.

The hike will bring the prices close to the premium level. So ECL, according to sources close to the development, is considering to pin the MOA prices somewhere at R7,000 per tonne.

ECL is also thinking of scrapping all MOAs and supply coal at a notified price. This means there would be no assured quantity for any consumer and A and B grade coal, mostly used for blending, will get into the common pool of supplies.

According to the present MOA, scheduled to be revised on March 31, WBPDCL had asked for the highest quantity of 30 lakh tonne per annum followed by NTPC 20 lakh tpa, DVC 7.8 lakh tpa, CESC 7 lakh tpa, DPL 3 lakh tpa and SAIL 2 lakh tpa.

Except WBPDCL, all the companies have so far lifted almost the entire MOA quantity and WBPDCL’s off-take was 50-55% of the agreed amount, an ECL official said, adding that in cases of low lifting there is no penalty clause because there is huge demand.

Of CIL’s total production A and B grade coal production is only 7%.

According to the official, although R7,000 per tonne is an exorbitant price and consumers don’t want to pay up, ECL can still realise this price if it pushes it to the e-auction route without assuring any quantity to any consumer.

In fact, the floor price for e-auction is set at a 30% premium above the notified price, which means at the present notified rate floor price for A and B grade coal would be R5,200 and R5,190 per tonne respectively and a premium above that can fetch R7,000 or more for every tonne of coal.

So scrapping MOA would by no means be against the interest of ECL, but would hamper consumers’ interest, the official said. Krishna Gupta, managing director of WBPDCL, said even if Rs. 7,000 is a very high price, it is better than not having any assured supply. “In fact, in the MOA the quantity demanded is reserved and thereafter even if it is not lifted there is no penalty. If import prices are low, but there are problems of logistics and inventory, it may put stock position under pressure,” Gupta said. He said the impact of coal price increase would ultimately be passed on to the consumers.

CESC chairman Sanjiv Goenka said his company was aware that the price for MOA coal could go up to R7,000 per tonne, but it was waiting for an official communication and has not decided anything on it as yet. The ECL board would take a final decision on March 28, an ECL official said. ECL’s total production this fiscal is expected to cross 30 million tonne, marginally higher than its production in 2009-2010, he added.(sourced:Financial Express)

Tags : A and B grade thermal coal, Rs 4950 per tonne