Impose a charge of Rs 50 per tonne of coal: coal India

Vijayawada: Coal India’s decision to impose a charge of Rs 50 per tonne of coal on all customers except those who are availing its “rapid loading” facility, has put both Genco and Tranco in a spot. With this imposition, Genco has to spend more on the coal. Transco anyway has been paying more than Rs 15 crore per month, in addition to the existing charges. With this increase in expenditure, Genco has calculated that the production cost of power will rise by 18 paise per unit, from now onwards.

Genco director (finance) G. Adinarayana said that the hike in the cost of power came into immediate effect as soon as they received communication from the Mahanadi Coal Fields (MCL), Sambalpur, Odisha. MCL is one of the six subsidiary companies of Coal India, and AP Genco purchases coal from MCL.

Stating that this hike in coal price would force Genco to bear an additional burden of Rs 200 crore per annum, the Genco director (finance) said that the new price point would be reviewed by the Energy department.

“With the hike in coal price, the power production has been increased at the rate of 18 paise per unit and we will communicate the same to the AP Power Corporation Limited,” Mr Adinarayana said and added that these issues would be discussed in APERC hearings scheduled in the upcoming month. In fact, Transco will also place the issues of increased cost of production and subsequent developments before the APERC.