India will not auction new
coal mining blocks to the power sector and will instead allocate
them to companies that offer to sell electricity cheapest, a
government source said on Monday. The country is introducing a new system that will put an end
to allocation of captive blocks to power plants at the
government's discretion, as done in most cases in the past, and
will help bring transparency at a time when the government is
being buffeted by corruption scandals.
Power companies will be vying for about 16 of 54 coal blocks
that the government has earmarked for allocation through bidding
expected to take place by the year-end. "Auctioning of blocks will happen for cement and steel
companies. But for power it will be through competitive
tariff-based bidding," a senior coal ministry source said on
condition of anonymity as the matter is still under discussion.
By using a method linked to tariffs, the government hopes to
keep electricity costs low. Power tariffs are a highly political
issue in a country where in some states millions of farmers are
offered free electricity as a vote-winner.
The call for auctioning of coal blocks has grown following a
leaked report by the federal auditor that accused Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's government of giving up $211 billion in
potential revenues by giving away coal assets too cheaply.
No coal block has been awarded since 2009. In the past, a
few captive mines had been allocated to power producers offering
the cheapest electricity rates but discretionary allocations
have been more prevalent.
The coal ministry is appointing a consulting firm, probably
within a month, to help with the auctioning and expects to
finalise reserve prices for the blocks in the next four months,
the source said. Power companies are likely to be attracted to the bidding as
blocks will provide them with an assured supply of a fuel
shotages of which have crippled expansion in the sector and
forced many power plants to run below capacity.
In some cases, power companies with captive coal blocks are
also allowed to sell a small portion of electricity in the open
market where they can get higher tariffs.
Coal accounts for more than half of India's power generation
and will be required for 85 percent of the 76,000 megawatts
additional capacity targeted in the next five years.
Source: Reuters
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