Coal news and updates

Barely months after it started electricity generation, Punjab's first private thermal plant at Rajpura has got into a row with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) as the latter has turned down its request to bear the transportation cost of coal. Since the rail rink to supply fuel to the plant has not been built, trucks are used to bring coal.

 

The Rajpura thermal plant, owned by a subsidiary of Larsen and Toubro, was inaugurated by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy CM son Sukhbir in December 2013.

 

If PSPCL agrees to bear the cost of bringing coal to the plant, power consumers of the state would be at the receiving end since transportation expenditure would be added to their monthly bill, sources said. The power corporation, however, has not concede to the demand as there is no such provision in the power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between it and the thermal plant management.

 

What has made the Rajpura thermal plant case curious is the fact that it was inaugurated by Badal months before elections despite an incomplete railway link. "In the absence of rail link, around 250-300 trucks have been transporting coal from Mandi Gobindgarh railway station to the plant site ever since it began operations in January this year. Now the management wants that the expenditure of hiring this large fleet of trucks to be borne by PSPCL," senior PSPCL official added.

 

Sources said that on an average, the plant consumes around 8,000 tonnes of coal everyday and the private generator is demanding that PSPCL pay Rs 435 per tonne of coal consumed as transportation charges. "If added into the bill raised by the plant for power it has sold to PSPCL, there will be an increase of 20-25 paisa per unit cost of energy we procured from them", said an official.

 

Sources revealed that for the month of March 2014, the private generator has raised a bill of over Rs 100 crore for supplying around 1,790 lakh units (LU) of electricity, which means each unit had cost Rs 5.62. "Similarly, for the month of February, the plant's management had raised a Rs 70 crore bill for supplying around 1,350 LUs of energy, which comes to Rs 5.17 per unit during February," he added.

 

Confirming that PSPCL hasn't conceded to the demand, chairman-cum-managing director K D Chaudhuri said, "We can't agree to their demand without nod from Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Now it is up to them whether they want approach the commission or not."

 

 

Source: ToI