Consumers' Page

Present Coal Scenario:

In January 2021, total coal production achieved by Coal India Limited was 60.50 million tonnes. The figures have slumped by 4.1% compared to 63.10 million tonnes lifted during January 2020. For the period spanning from April 2020 to January 2021, the national miner has produced 453.30 million tonnes, registering a growth of 0.4% over 451.50 million tonnes produced in the same period last year despite the onslaught of pandemic. Coal India’s total offtake for January stood at 53.30 million tonnes. The offtake was reduced by 4.6% compared to January 2021 figure of 55.90 MT. Total offtake for the period of April 2020 to January 2021 has been 467.90 MT. The coal Offtake by CIL has increased by 2.2% compared to the same period last year.

Submissions made by both Power and NRS consumers:

1. Request for amendment in over loading & under loading clause of FSA and e-Auctions:

The responsibility of coal loading in rakes is with the Subsidiaries Coal Companies and the consumers do not have any control over quantity of coal being loaded in the rakes. However, various additional charges are levied on consumers from both Power and Nonpower sector by the Indian Railways due to over loading of rakes i.e. punitive charges for load adjustment/ detention, engine haulage charges etc. In case of under-loading, the full amount is not refunded, because according to FSA provision, coal companies give under loading charges limited to the difference of CC / stencil capacity and actual weight of coal loaded in the wagon. But the Railway charges freight as per permissible carrying capacity (PCC ) / chargeable

weight and in most cases PCC / chargeable weight is more than the stencil carrying capacity. Request has been made to CIL for amendment of the above-mentioned clause so that the sellers bear the penalty on overloading charges and consumers pay only the cost of excess coal quantity over the chargeable weight supplied by the Subsidiaries.

2. Submission regarding issue of ungraded coal supplied to Power and NRS consumers:

*Power sector have stated that in spite of the provision in their FSAs, refunds for supply of ungraded coal are still pending from different Subsidiaries even after two years or more in some cases. Request has been made to CIL by the Power sector so that the pending refunds on account of ungraded coal may be processed at the earliest. In case of Formulation of a new policy in this regard, it may be expedited as the fund is stuck for a long time. *The NRS consumers are unable to get long pending refunds through credit notes even when the quality of coal supplied is lower than the G-17 grade because unlike the Power sector there is no provision for issuing credit notes in case of supply of ungraded coal in the FSAs for NRS consumers.

Request has been made to CIL to expedite the formulation of a suitable policy in line with the Power sector so that the NRS consumers can get their requisite refund in case of supply of ungraded coal.

Submission by Power Sector consumers:

3. Submission regarding supply of poor quality of coal from ECL:

Coal supplied to power sector consumers from various ECL sidings including JHANJRA, MADHAIPUR, MANDERBANI, BEGUNIA, DABOR, MOHONPUR, BANKOLA, SHYAMSUNDARPUR during the first six months of FY2020-21 has been 2-7 grades down from the billed grade resulting in a huge financial burden for the generators and causing power tariff to go up. Requests have been made to ECL and CIL to immediately ensure supply of billed grade of coal to the power sector to ensure smooth operation of plants.

4. Submission by Power sector for immediate processing of long pending refund for grade slippage by WCL:

Certain power sector consumers have raised repeated concerns over significant grade slippage from various sidings of the coal company and stated that large amount of refund amounting to crores of rupees is pending with the coal company in this regard for many months. Request has been made to WCL for immediate processing of these refund amounts to the power sector at the earliest possible.

5. Representation regarding regular short-receipt of coal from various sidings of ECL and SECL:

A number of power plants are suffering due to short receipt of coal as high as 3.4% to 4.2% in most of the rakes dispatched from SECL’s Dipka, Kusmunda and Gevra sidings. Power sector consumers procuring coal from ECL's Salanpur area and POCP-I siding in Jhanjra area, are also facing regular short receipt in rakes in the range of 1.5%- 5.6% in recent months. Request has been made to CIL and concerned subsidiaries to ensure proper loading of coal in rakes by the Subsidiary coal companies so that the power plants do not suffer due to shortage in coal supply

6. Submission regarding refund of Advalorem taxes alongwith coal value in case of grade Slippage:

The Subsidiary coal companies of CIL are refunding

the difference in base price of coal alongwith differential GST amount to their customers in case of grade slippage. However, Power Sector consumers have pointed out that Ad-valorem taxes paid by them alongwith advance coal value such as Royalty, DMF, NMET are not included in the credit notes.

Request has been made to the Ministry of coal and CIL so that Royalty and Ad-valorem taxes are included during issuance of credit notes by the coal companies in case of grade slippage.

7. Request by consumers for aligning FSA underloading (Idle Freight) calculation with Railway Receipt:

Railways charge freight as per permissible carrying capacity (PCC)/chargeable weight of the wagons. However, as per FSA, Subsidiaries compute the underloading quantity based on stenciled carrying capacity and processes the refund accordingly. This difference in methodology for assessing the underloading of rakes often leads to huge financial loss for the consumers of when the permissible carrying capacity of a rake is more than the actual carrying capacity. Request has been made to CIL to take necessary steps so that FSA underloading (Idle Freight) calculation can be aligned with Railway Receipt and make reimbursement on account of underloading accordingly.

8. Erratic Referee sample analysis results of coal supplied by ECL to Power sector consumers:

Power sector consumers procuring coal from Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) have repeatedly pointed out that the Referee analysis results of sample for coal supplied by the coal company are often not in consonance with the quality of coal received at the Generating Station as indicated by the 3rd party analysis conducted by CSIR-CIMFR. Request has been made to CIMFER, CIL and ECL to ensure proper storage of referee samples and the abnormal variation in result of referee samples with the

Submission by Non-Power sector consumers:

9. Submission by NRS consumers regarding regular short receipt of coal and overloading from ECL:

Certain NRS consumers procuring coal from ECL have stated that they are facing short-receipt as well as the issue of overloading in some rakes dispatched from the same siding (POCP-I). As a result, these consumers are suffering due to loss of quantity amounting to substantial coal value and are compelled to pay hefty punitive charges on account of overloading. Request has been made to ECL to eradicate the issue of shortage in supply of coal to the NRS consumers. Also, overloading from the sidings of ECL needs to be looked into.

10. Submission to WCL regarding pending refund of excess payment against coal value and Differential CST amount:

For certain NRS consumers, Excess payment made towards WCL as coal value is pending since many months. Also, the refund of differential CST amount by the coal company is pending even after the consumers have submitted the ‘C form’.

Request has been made to WCL for immediate processing of the long-pending refunds considering the abject financial condition of the NRS consumers.