Coal news and updates

Indian power cos’ Feb coal consumption dips 6% m-o-m

Coal consumption by India’s power utilities monitored by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in February 2016 were at 44.79 mt against 47.47 million tons (mt) in January 2016, down 5.65% month-on-month, as per data available with ICMW.

On a year-on-year basis, coal consumption was up 6.67% from 41.99 mt in February 2015.

Coal consumption by the power plants monitored by this central agency during the first 11 months of 2015-16 (April-February) were at 498.13 mt compared to 487.69 mt seen in the same period of the previous fiscal, up 2.14% year-on-year.

The month-on-month drop in coal consumption by the power plants is a pointer to the trend of poor demand for electricity with distribution companies having failed to purchase power from the generators due to their weak financial conditions. The Modi government has stepped in with the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY).

Consumption of the fuel by the power plants in entire 2014-15 stood at 531.48 mt and the current trend indicates that the consumption may range around 545 mt in 2015-16 because of low imports and higher availability of domestic coal.