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A number of private power producers have intimated to Coal India Ltd (CIL) that they are agreeable to the price-pooling mechanism for coal.
“Many private producers have conveyed to CIL that they are happy with price-pooling mechanism,” said an official from the company.
To offset the impact of high import costs, the Planning Commission has said that CIL should adopt a pooling formula on prices by combining rates of imported and domestic coal.
The West Bengal Government, however, has raised objections to price-pooling of coal and has intimated to CIL that such a mechanism is not acceptable to it.
CIL had recently sought comments from power producers and state governments on price pooling mechanism.
The state-owned firm has sought comments from those power plants that have come up after April, 2009 and will be set up till March, 2015, the official said.
Commenting on the price pooling Coal Secretary S K Srivastava had said on Friday, “The matter is under consideration and dialogue with the Power Ministry, and as in when the final decision is taken on that the board will consider it and they can always review the decision with regard to the imported coal on the cost plus basis.”
CIL Chairman and Managing Director S Narsing Rao had last month said, “Price pooling is a mechanism to implement FSA...
If price pooling is approved then 15 per cent supply of imported coal will be not in the cost plus method, but in pooling mechanism.”
The CIL board had last month approved the modified fuel supply agreement (FSA) without price-pooling with 65 per cent domestic coal and 15 per cent imported coal at cost plus basis. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is also working on a price pooling mechanism.
So far, only 30 power companies, including Lanco and Adani, have signed FSAs with CIL. The FSA has modifications in penalty, moratorium on penalty and some changes in force majeure clauses which were cleared by the board earlier.
Rao had earlier said that the PSU had written to power companies for their feedback on the mechanism.
If price pooling is implemented, all power consumers would have to bear the impact, he had said, adding that it should be neutral to CIL.
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