Coal India has so far entered into pacts with 14 power plants for the supply of fossil fuel, while some have refused to sign it due to their objections on some of the clauses of the model fuel supply agreement. "Till now 14 power units have entered into fuel supply pact with Coal India (CIL). The last unit with which the PSU has signed FSA is CESC," a source close to the development said.

The development follows power ministry seeking the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office to resolve issues related to CIL's new fuel supply agreement.

The development follows power ministry seeking the intervention of the PMO to resolve issues related to CIL's new fuel supply pact

Coal India has so far entered into pacts with 14 power plants for the supply of fossil fuel, while some have refused to sign it due to their objections on some of the clauses of the model fuel supply agreement. "Till now 14 power units have entered into fuel supply pact with Coal India (CIL). The last unit with which the PSU has signed FSA is CESC," a source close to the development said.

The coal ministry has asked Coal India to sign the new format fuel supply agreements with power units coming up between January 2012 and March 2015.
The directive came in response to a clarification sought by the miner on whether it should sign supply pacts with new thermal plants on the terms mentioned in the existing contracts or the new agreements, which significantly dilute the miner’s supply obligations.

With no end in sight to the continuing tussle between Coal India Limited (CIL) and power producers over the fuel supply issues, the Power Ministry has petitioned the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to intervene and settle the issue pertaining to signing of new fuel supply agreements (FSAs) and some controversial clauses in it.

Power minister Sushilkumar Shinde has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Office’s intervention in mandating Coal India Ltd to ink Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) within a month in its 2009 format. In his May 9 letter to the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterji, Shinde expressed concern that the FSA finalised by the miner is heavily tilted in its favour. He said the penalty of 0.01 per cent with zero penalty for the first three years has triggered concerns among power utilities.

New Delhi Lack of assured coal linkages may drive 18 firms to open market

As many as 18 upcoming power projects with an aggregate capacity of over 25,000 MW might be forced to violate their tariff commitments and seek a much higher price from consumers. This is because the coal ministry has rejected a request from the developers of these projects for assured coal linkages and they might have no other option but to resort to the open market for fuel.

To move competition watchdog against Coal India’s ‘monopolistic’ rejection of liabilities for default
Frustrated by uncertainty over fuel supply despite a presidential decree, top power generation firms have adopted a confrontational approach towards Coal India and decided to complain to the competition regulator against the state-run giant’s “monopolistic” rejection of liabilities for default.

The power ministry has asked the coal ministry to instruct Coal India Limited (CIL) to continue supplying coal to power plants through the memorandum of understanding (MoU) route till the time the ongoing exercise of inking of fuel supply agreements (FSAs) are completed, failing which capacity addition of nearly 25,000 Megawatts will get stranded.

All power plants getting commissioned this fiscal will get coal even if they have not signed legally-binding contracts with the PSU miner. The government has ordered Coal India Ltd (CIL) to supply coal to all power plants getting commissioned within this fiscal even if they have not signed legally binding fuel supply agreements (FSA) with the PSU miner.

New Delhi In what may come as a relief for power project developers, the coal ministry has directed state-owned coal companies to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply to plants commissioned till March 31, 2012, as well as those to be commissioned during fiscal 2012-13 even if they fail to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs). The coal supply to these power projects would be maintained by coal companies under the MoU route till the time fuel user and supplier companies are ready to sign the FSAs.