Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Power ministers of all the states will meet Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday.
The meeting will be held to discuss the power situation in the states due to the shortage of coal. The tariff issue is also likely to be discussed in the meet.
One fourth of the 100 coal-based power plants monitored by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) are reeling under acute coal shortage with stocks to last less than four days.
Out of the 25 thermal power plants (TPP) having super critical stock, four each are in states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, three in Uttar Pradesh among others.
The meeting also coincides the day when the Supreme Court is expected to take a final decision on its August 25 judgment declaring illegal all coal blocks allocated from 1993 to 2010.
The states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab are also facing power crises due to shut down of some units of Mundra plants run by Tata Power and Adani Power.
Adani Power shut down about six generating units at its 4,620 megawatt (MW) Mundra plant in Gujarat, last week. This plant supplies electricity to Haryana and Gujarat.
Tata Power closed down two generating units at its 4,000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project on account of technical issues.
Tata Mundra project supplies power to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. Last Monday, the Supreme Court had stayed the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity’s interim order allowing compensatory tariffs for the two Mundra projects.
These projects have been impacted by change in Indonesian coal pricing policy.
Following a change in Indonesia’s coal-price regime in 2011, both Tata Power and Adani Power had approached Central Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking relief, which allowed them to charge higher tariffs from the state utilities as compensation for the costlier fuel.
With agency inputs
