Power tariff set to shoot up as Coal India raises prices

With Coal India (CIL) planning to raise its revenue margin by an additional Rs.3,234 crore by increasing the average coal prices by 6.29 per cent, power tariffs in plants across the country are set to rise. To push sales of higher-grade coal and to price them at par with international trends, CIL reduced prices between Rs.50 and Rs.1,420 for the G1-G5 grades. To make up for the loss on account of this, it increased prices in the lower G6-G17 grades between Rs.70 and Rs.300. Although prices have been reduced for the higher grades, the power sector in India mostly uses the lower G8-G13 band where prices have soared by 13.60-18.03 per cent.
´If input costs go up as a result of the increase in coal, a price rise in power might happen,´ said an unnamed NTPC official, quoted in Business Standard.