The government has directed Coal India and its subsidiaries to give priority to power plants in fuel supply as plants are grappling with acute coal shortage, an official said.
"Coal and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a video conference asked Coal India and its arms to prioritise power sector," the official said.
The CMDs of all subsidiaries of Coal India (CIL), and the CMD of NTPC along with others were part of the video conference held on September 22, the official said.
Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in a letter said in view of the acute shortage of coal at power plants, it was decided in the meeting that rakes will be loaded only for power plants.
After meeting the requirement of power plants, "CPSUs like RINL, Nalco and SAIL (RSP) are to be loaded till the crisis is over", the letter said.
A fall in the generation of thermal power, wind and hydro-power due to multiple factors has spiked power rates in spot markets in the last two weeks.
Power tariff on Sunday touched a decade high of Rs 17.61 per unit on the Indian Energy Exchange due to low hydro and wind energy production and coal shortage at thermal plants.
According to sources, captive power plants (CPPs) were grappling with the issue of coal shortage. CPPs generate electricity for their own manufacturing facilities like steel, cement and others.
According to the Central Electricity Authority data, as many as 19 thermal plants had coal stocks of less than seven days of consumption as on September 27.
Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output.
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