Spot power bills soar on coal auction price rise

KOLKATA: Spot power prices in India have increased almost a rupee per unit since April last year mainly because of higher e-auction price of coal, reports ET.

Prices at e-auctions rose almost 16% while spot power rates increased 18% in the first nine months of the current fiscal. Coal India sold 18% more coal at the auctions. Many independent power producers buy coal auctioned by Coal India, and their generation cost depends on the price at the e-auction.

“As coal prices are on the rise, they are quoting higher prices for the power they intend to sell,” said Rajesh K Mediratta, director-business development at Indian Energy Exchange.


A senior Coal India executive said average auction prices in April-December 2017 was Rs 1,738 per tonne while in the last three months of the same period it was Rs 1,998 per tonne. It rose further to Rs 2,089 in January.