Power cos lost 8.7 bn units due to coal shortages: govt

Power companies in India have reported generation loss of 8.7 billion units from April- February this fiscal due to coal shortages, Parliament was informed today.

"Power utilities have reported a generation loss of 8.7 billion units during the year 2011-12 [up to February, 2012] due to shortage of coal," Minister of State for Power KC Venugopal told the Rajya Sabha.

These companies suffered a generation loss of 8.4 billion units in the last financial year (2010-11).

The government is taking various steps to mitigate the scarcity of coal in the country including asking Coal India to enhance production of domestic coal, Venugopal.

"Power utilities have been advised to import coal to the extent technically feasible to bridge the gap between requirement of coal and its availability from domestic sources," he said.

Coal supply position to thermal power stations is regularly reviewed by the Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Power and Cabinet Secretariat with participation from the concerned ministries, CEA, CIL, Railways and NTPC, he added.

The steps also include reduction in e-auction by Coal India from 10 per cent to 7 per cent of its production till the end of the 12th plan, if required, to meet its commitment to power sector.

Meanwhile, the government has also set up a two-member Technical Expert Committee (TEC) to study the reports of the expert group constituted on the downstream impact of Subansiri lower hydro-electric project in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.