As the next election cycle nears, politicians are once again promising cheap, even free electricity, to voters. After he assumed charge as the chief minister of Punjab, Charanjit Singh Channi burnt copies of electricity bills and announced restoration of power connections which were disconnected for non-payment of bills. And the Aam Admi Party (AAP), which used the free-power promise effectively in Delhi, is ma...

As per CEA's assessment, the 10 million tonnes are required to make up for the generation loss due to non-operalisation of 17 GW that are dependent completely on imported coal, priced at $160 per tonne currently. Industry experts expect international coal prices to remain high for a few more months. Indian power plants require 10 million tonnes of imported coal in the current financial year to build stock at t...

“Power plants owe huge quantum of money to Coal India (CIL), so naturally, it (CIL) gets into difficulty,” Singh said. He added that the Union power ministry would soon write to the state governments and discoms, asking to clear their dues to gencos — Rs 75,000 crore at last count — at the earliest. Unless the state-run electricity distribution entities (discoms) mend their ways and pay pow...

Currently, IPPs have to make full payments for coal in advance, while there is no penalty for coal companies, including Coal India (CIL) and the railways, if the desired quantity and quality of coal does not reach private generators on time. ...

  Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday held a meeting with the committee constituted to look into the contentious power purchase agreements (PPAs) and other issues related to the sector. The meeting was attended by local government minister Brahm Mohindra and education minister Pargat Singh besides chief secretary Anirudh Tewari and senior officers of the power depart...

Separating electricity from the wires that transmit is a crazy dream of a few market fundamentalists. The Modi government is attempting this failed policy again, and state-owned distribution companies and consumers will suffer. The coal crisis in the country has brought out the larger crisis of the electricity sector. In the name of reforms, the government has slowly dismantled the infrastructure of this sector. T...

The Ministry of Power on Saturday announced new rules to sustain economic viability of the sector, ease financial stress of various stakeholders and ensure timely recovery of costs involved in electricity generation. The ministry notified rules for the sustainability of the electricity sector and promotion of clean energy to meet the India’s commitment towards climate change, a statement said. Investors and ...

 Even as the state has witnessed a huge decline in the power demand, private- as well government-run thermal power plants in Punjab continues to witness the shortage of coal in their stock. The demand for power in Punjab has declined to around 6,500MW. On Friday, the power demand touched 6,631MW and around 1,400 lakh units were supplied. During this year’s peak season, the state had witnessed de...

The coal stocks at the thermal plants of the private generators in Punjab have not improved and they continue to live on hand to mouth. This is despite the fact that the power ministry has advised them to build stock as per norms. The coal shortage may pose power problems in the coming festival season. The coal stock at Rajpura Thermal and Talwandi Sabo is just sufficient for 2.1 and 1.4 days. At GVL the coal stoc...

Addressing the South Asia Power Summit 'Moving Towards Sustainable Energy Security meeting Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar on Thursday stressed on the need to have strategic fuel reserves to insulate the nation from supply shocks for at least a month, in the backdrop of the ongoing coal shortage at power plants in the country. Addressing the South Asia Power Summit 'Moving Towards Sust...