NTPC to pass on additional coal cost to states

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will pass on the additional cost being accrued on account of imported coal to the respective consumer states, L V Rao, executive director of NTPC(southern region) said here today.

NTPC, which has till date imported 75,000 tonnes of coal from Indonesia in the last couple of months, is planning to import over 2.1 million tonnes during the current financial year to make up for the shortage in domestic coal supplies.

So far, the 1,000-mega watt Simhadri power project at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh is the only power plant in the entire southern region where the imported coal is being used, blended with Indian coal at 20:80 ratio.

While other states are yet to respond to NTPC's decision to pass on the additional cost of imported coal to them, Andhra Pradesh power utility, APTransco, however has opposed the way the corporation wanted to do it in case of 1,000-megawatt Simhadri Thermal Power Station in Vizag.

APTransco argues that the additional cost of imported coal should be calculated on the total installed capacity of NTPC and then be distributed among the states according to their consumption. But NTPC is not buying the argument as unlike other regional power stations of NTPC, Simhadri is exclusively meant for Andhra Pradesh.

"The government of India directed to use imported coal for coastal power plants only to avoid cost escalation and transportation problems. While requirement of landlocked thermal units is fully met by Indian coal, why should states like Andhra only bear the burden of this additional cost?"questions a senior APTransco official.

These issues will be resolved in due course, Rao said here on Monday. A direct passing of additional cost on to the state power utility, according to an estimate would be to the tune of around 10 paise per unit.

If the additional cost of imported coal is merged with the pooled cost of the entire power generation of NTPC, the additional burden is expected to come down to around 3 paise per unit.

Meanwhile, Simhadri stood second among all other NTPC units in the country in terms of performance.

According to the executive director, Simhadri generated a record 8122.68 million units with an operating availability of 93.23 per cent. The station ranked second among all NTPC stations with 100.66 plant load factor(PLF).