Coal India has signed FSA with around 18 power plants: Government

NEW DELHI: The government today said Coal India has so far signed pacts with 18 power plants for supply of the fuel, amid electricity producers' reservations about certain clauses of the fuel supply agreement.

"The fuel supply agreements have been signed with around 18 power plants," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters.

Most of the power producers have reservations about certain clauses, including those related to penalty, in the revised fuel supply agreement (FSA) put forward by CIL.

State-owned NTPC is among the companies that have refused to sign FSA.

Coal India has entered into fuel supply pacts with Reliance Power for its Rosa Power project, Lanco Anpara Power, Bajaj Hindustan and CESC, among others.

Last month, the government had issued a directive to Coal India to commit itself to a minimum of 80 per cent of fuel supply to power producers, failing which it would attract penalty.

The directive was issued following a meeting between the power sector honchos and the PMO.

On the timeline for the Coal India to sign FSAs with all the 48 power units, its Chairman and Managing Director Narsing Rao had said that giving a time-frame was difficult.

The model FSA format includes clauses like 80 per cent trigger level and penalty of 0.01 per cent applicable on CIL in case of failure to adhere to the agreement.