Lok Sabha Question No. 3789 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-03
Subject: Coal Price
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: DHARMENDRA YADAV, PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE, ANANDRAO  ADSUL, SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3789 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.01.2019

## COAL PRICE

†3789. SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV: DR. PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE: SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL: SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether coal based power plants are facing the heat of increased prices of thermal grade coal and cost of railway freight;
- (b) if so, whether the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India has done any study in this regard;
- (c)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  percentage  of  price  of  thermal  grade  coal  and  the percentage of cost of freight has increased recently;
- (e) if so, the impact of the cost of the said thermal power plants on the increase in production;
- (f) whether the thermal power plants were operating with low production due to rising demand of non-renewable energy; and
- (g)
- if so, the details thereof?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

( SHRI  R. K. SINGH )

- (a)  &  (d)  :    Coal  India  Limited,  vide  notification  dated  08.01.2018,  has revised  the  price  of  all  grades  of  non-coking  coal  produced  by  coal companies  of  CIL  superseding  their earlier price notification  dated 29.5.2016. The price of higher grade of coal (G1 to G5) has been reduced by 0-5% whereas the price for other grades (G6-G14) has been increased in the range of 3 to 22%.

..........2.

The details of coal freight  rate  per  tonne  from  2014  to  2018  is  as under:

| Distance (in KM)   | 25.06.2014                      | 01.04.2015                      | 22.08.2016                      | 26.07.2017                      | 15.01.2018                      | 01.11.2018                      |
|--------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|                    | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) | Freight rate per tonne (in Rs.) |
| 100                | 193.40                          | 164.50                          | 164.50                          | 179.00                          | 198.70                          | 216.00                          |
| 500                | 660.60                          | 702.40                          | 712.00                          | 817.60                          | 969.80                          | 1054.70                         |
| 1000               | 1269.20                         | 1349.50                         | 1349.50                         | 1455.10                         | 1739.60                         | 1891.80                         |
| 1500               | 1873.40                         | 1992.00                         | 1961.20                         | 2066.80                         | 2478.20                         | 2695.00                         |
| 2000               | 2350.80                         | 2499.70                         | 2243.40                         | 2349.00                         | 2819.00                         | 3065.70                         |

(b) & (c) : The report titled 'Revision in domestic coal prices and railway freight  rates  to  raise  power  procurement  cost  by  11  paise  per  unit  for distribution utilities' available in ICRA website concludes that:

'Assuming the average AT&C loss level at around 23% in the country, the impact of the revision in coal prices and railway freight on cost of power supply per unit sold and retail tariffs (assuming full pass through by state regulators)  is  estimated  at  around  14  paisa  per  unit  or  2.3%  tariff  hike. However, the state-wise extent of an increase in the cost of power supply and hence, in retail tariff for a distribution utility would be dependent upon the mix of coal based generation in its overall power procurement.'

(e): The thermal power plants are operating consistently at Plant Load Factor (PLF) of about 61% during 2017-18 as well as during 2018-19 (April-November, 2018). Moreover, the generation from coal based thermal power plants has increased by about 5.5% during April-November, 2018 as compared to same period last year.

(f) & (g) : The PLF of the stations varies from 94.86% to 0 during 2018-19 (upto Nov. 18). The PLF of the station depends on number of factors like the  outages  for  planned  maintenance,  forced  outages  on  account  of equipment failures, coal shortages etc. and actual dispatch to the station by  the  beneficiaries.    The  actual  dispatch  depends  on  the  prevailing electricity demand, availability of electricity from other different sources like  hydro,  nuclear  and  renewable  etc.  and  merit  order  of  the  station based on its variable cost of supply.

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