Power companies to get coal via e-auctions; CIL MoU till June 30

New Delhi: Power producers being supplied coal through the MoU route by state-owned CIL will now have to take it via special e-auction being conducted for the power sector as the government has decided not to extend the pact beyond June 30.

The Coal Ministry said: "It has been decided...That the plants hitherto getting coal through MoU route (the 4660 MW category, similarly placed plants and plants having erstwhile tapering linkage) may take the coal being made available through the process of special forward e-auction of coal for power sector (under which CIL is making arrangements for conduct of forward e-auction of coal exclusively for power sector on a sustained basis...)."

In a recent communication to Coal India Ltd, it said that in order to ensure there is no disruption in coal availability to these plants, the MoU with the above stipulated plants which expired on March 31, will not be extended not beyond June 30, so as to facilitate smooth transition to the special forward e-auction system of the coal PSU.

State-run CIL will next week hold the first phase of special e-auction for the ongoing fiscal to provide coal to power producers.

The special forward e-auction for 2016-17 for power producers including captive power plants (CPP)-Phase I would be held on April 27-28, CIL had earlier said in a notice.

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had informed Parliament last week that CIL has offered 14 million tonnes of fossil fuel under special e-auction to both power and non- power sectors to facilitate liquidation of pit-head stock.

CIL, a major supplier of coal to the power sector, is also eyeing production of one billion tonnes by 2020.