Surplus domestic coal cuts NTPC's cost by 13%

States to save Rs 300 crore a month on their power bills

Following improved domestic supply and availability of coal, state-owned thermal power giant NTPC witnessed its average energy charge coming down by 13.6 per cent for the September-December 2015 period compared to the same period in 2014.
 
The company’s energy cost or the cost of procuring coal was Rs 2.06 per unit in September 2014. During 2015, it came down to Rs 1.8 per unit in November and Rs 1.78 per unit in December.

A K Jha, CMD, NTPC said that as the cost is pass-through, the states procuring power from NTPC would save on an average Rs 300 crore per month.

With Coal India and its subsidiaries boosting coal production, NTPC’s dependence on imported coal has come down to 8.6 million tonne during April-December 2015 from 12.3 million tonne during same period in 2014.

The amount of coal procured by the company through e-auction at the market rate also declined by 64 per cent to 0.32 million tonne in 2015.

Jha said the decline in energy charge would be a boon for the financially weak distribution companies. “Plants with cumulative capacity of 14,780 Mw are now selling power at Rs 1.5 per unit, while capacity totalling Rs 14,190 Mw is available at a price range of Rs 1.9 to Rs 3 per unit,” said Jha.

Currently, only three power plants of NTPC – Badarpur, Dadari- I and II are selling power over Rs 4 per unit.

Coal availability at NTPC’s power stations has improved to 10.3 million tonnes in 2015 which loosely translate into 23 days of supply at the plant. It was six million tonnes during 2014.

However, as the power demand remains tepid from the states, the plant load factor (PLF) or the plant running capacity has declined to 77.8 per cent in 2015 from, 79.3 per cent last year and 85 per cent in 2012-13.

PRICE REDUCTION



Average plant load factor for the year (%)