<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Association of Fly Ash Products Manufacturers (AFAPM) Vs Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change & Others dated 13/07/2023.</p>
New Delhi The power ministry has framed new bidding guidelines to prevent private firms with cheap captive coal mines selling power at steep rates in the open market and reaping windfall profits. Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of the Express group, power minister Veerappa Moily said the guidelines would require companies in all segments — ultra mega, captive and merchant — generating power to participate in bidding for selling electricity. The minister said there would be no large-scale coal block cancellations, assuring the money lent by the banks to power companies would be safe. Moily said the new bidding guidelines would resolve the immediate problems in the coal and power sector.
The fate of 17 coal blocks is on line as the inter-Ministerial group (IMG), headed by Zohra Chatterjee, is likely to recommend de-allocation for not only their failure to develop the mining assets within
Consumers with contract demand of 1 Mw and above have been allowed open access in Rajasthan from April 1, 2008 A power regulator’s movecould stop open access plans for consumers having load in excess of 1 Mw. Contrary to the stand taken by the Union power ministry after seeking the view of the law ministry, the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC) has ruled that it has the jurisdiction to determine the rates for all consumers, including those having load in excess of 1 Mw, according to the law.
To provide relief to the power sector, which is reeling under a fuel crisis, the Planning Commission has circulated a paper on public-private partnership in electricity generation. In the paper, the commission pointed to the problems faced by power producers using domestic, as well as imported fuel. It has suggested bidding be carried out at capacity charge, while the variable charge (which comprises fuel charges) would be passed on to consumers. Capacity charge is the billed amount that covers the difference between the power a customer expects to be available and the power the customer actually uses.
If the ministry has its way, rates will not be fixed by appropriate commissions, but by competition In a bid to provide a much-needed relief to crisis-hit power companies, the power ministry has proposed changes in the Electricity Act to reform the tariff determination mechanism. If the ministry has its way, rates will not be fixed by appropriate commissions, but by competition. However, the Forum of Regulators (FoR), a representative body of regulatory commissions in the country, has taken strong objection to the power ministry’s ministry’s proposal to amend the Section 62 and 63 of the Act, citing the Indian power market was still evolving and there was no need for such amendments at this point in time.
New Delhi Top executives of private power companies such as Tata Power, Reliance, Lanco and Torrent Power met Union power minister Veerappa Moily on Friday to seek his intervention to ensure a speedy resolution to pending fuel issues relating to the sector. A huge generation capacity is facing the prospect of being stranded due to shortage of fuel — both coal and natural gas. Developers feel the resolution of fuel issues would help boost sagging investors' confidence in the sector.
Shaken by the recent failure of the northern grid and subsequent collapse of the eastern and north-eastern grids, the Union Power Ministry has decided to take up the work of connecting the southern grid with the national grid on a war footing, a task likely to be achieved by 2014. Ministry officials said that after having learnt a lesson from the two-day blackout in major parts of the country, the Ministry has stepped up the work of integrating the southern grid with the national grid that could not only help in efficient and effective transfer of electricity from various regions, but also provide a huge relief to the power starved South.
Even as the Coalgate is likely to take a toll on power sector by leaving fate of a number of private power companies captive coal mines in limbo, Planning Commission is banking high on private sector for
The Central Bureau of Investigation is finalising a report on its probe into the allocation of coal blocks and is understood to have unearthed discrepancies in the allocations, with the involvement of officials of State governments at various levels. The CBI is preparing the ground for lodging of a first information report (FIR), which could well become the basis for cancellation of allocations. Sources in the government said the CBI scrutinised around 1,400 applications and found that a number of private players had either misrepresented facts to get allotment or were recommended by the respective State governments.
With investment running into thousands of crores of rupees languishing due to fuel supply constraints for power plants, a mega delegation comprising heads of 24 private sector power companies will meet Power Minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday. Private companies contributed 26 per cent — Rs 166,000 crore — of the total expenditure of Rs 618,000 crore in the power sector during the eleventh Plan period. The government wants private sector’s contribution to the overall funding in the sector to go up to more than a half over the next five years.
