Consumers' Page

Issues commonly faced by both Power and Non-power sectors:

1. Issue of grade slippage at the CIL

Subsidiaries: In spite of continuous monitoring and several measures taken up by MoC and CIL including reforms and policy changes to eradicate the issues with coal quality, instances of grade slippage still crop up in almost all the Subsidiaries at times. Certain suggestions have been made by the coal consumers to tackle this persisting problem:

A) Calculation of GCV on As Received

Basis (ARB): Gross Calorific Value (GCV) of coal is calculated on equilibrated basis by CIL, which does not consider the presence of moistures other than inherent moisture. This causes a loss on account of GCV of coal for the consumers. It has been requested that Calculation of GCV on As Received Basis (ARB) may be introduced as per international coal trading practice.

B) Periodical regradation of coal

mines: It is also requested to consider periodical re-gradation of coal mines on half yearly basis by the Coal Controller’s Organisation in those areas where the issue of wide difference between declared grades and third party results are occurring on a continuous basis.

C) Round the clock surveillance of

Referee coal samples: Analysis results of Referee Samples are the final determining factor in the entire 3rd Party Sampling & Analysis procedure in case of disputes. Therefore, it is suggested that there should be one central storage room for keeping referee samples of all areas under one Coal Company and the room has to be kept under 24*7 Hrs strict security with CCTV surveillance.

D) Variation between different parts of same sample should be within stipu

lated precision of BIS: As per BIS standard, precision of repeatability of analysis of same samples in 2 different labs should be within 65 kcal/ kg. So when a 3rd party agency is collecting and preparing lab samples for dividing into four different parts, if the variation between those four samples are beyond stipulated limits, it should be considered as a grade slippage and a policy revision is required in the FSA.

Issues faced exclusively by the Power sector:

2. Expedite supply of crushed coal to Power sector from alternate sources

of Kusmunda & Junadih of SECL: Power sector consumers procuring coal from SECL have been struggling due to lack of supply from the Subsidiary’s Kusmunda and Junadih sidings since May, 2020. Though SECL is offering (-) 250mm coal from its New Kusmunda-2 and Old Kusmunda sidings temporarily to supplement the pending supply, the quality of coal there is not appropriate for usage in power plants without crushing. This lack of supply of required quantity may compel the affected Power plants to regulate their generation. Submissions were made to CIL and SECL to expedite supply of pending rakes with crushed coal to the Power sector consumers so that their generation schedule do not get hampered.

3. Request to increase coal supply from SECL to Power Utilities generating for

Punjab during the paddy season: Power demand has gone up in Punjab due to the high requirement of electricity by the farmers in the ongoing paddy season. As a result, the requirement of coal at the number of TPPs in the region has increased simultaneously. On behalf of a number of Power Utilities functioning in Punjab, SECL is requested to expedite the supply of coal to the Utilities generating Power in that region.

Issues faced exclusively by the Non-power Sector:

4. Request for waiving-off penalties by MCL for short-lifting during lock

down period: NRS consumers procuring coal from MCL have stated that they were allotted large number of pending rakes during the COVID period. However, they were not able to lift such quantity due to several reasons and were forced to cancel the rakes. The rakes cancelled by them in April, May & June, 2020 (lockdown period) have been considered while calculating the penalty for short lifting for FY 2019-20 as they were scheduled for previous FY and hefty penalty was imposed on these companies. It is requested to CIL and MCL to waive off the compensation bills raised against cancellation of these rakes. Considering this issue may also crop up in other CIL Subsidiaries, the consumers have suggested that CIL may declare the lockdown period as general force majeure across the Subsidiaries.

Issues related to Railways:

5. Oversupply of rakes to unwilling

consumers amid COVID-19 crisis: Indents are often being sent by the Railways to the consumers at one go in order to clear the backlog as it has surplus rolling stock. Request has been made for not sending indents to unwilling consumers as they are going through both financial and space constraints. It is also requested to ensure that the rakes coming in the seniority list do not get lapsed..

6. Requirement of bi-directional weighment facility in the in-motion

weighbridges: Weighment of rake is done by Coal Cos. on behalf of Railway in their in-motion weighbridges situated at the sidings. Both Utilities and Industries often complain about receiving less coal due to tare difference during weighment of rakes in the in-motion weighbridges. The Railways have been requested to consider

the actual tare weight in place of printed tare weight for calculating the quantity of coal loaded in the wagons. While taking tare weight at the time of placement of wagons, bi-directional weighment facility needs to be provided in the in-motion weighbridges either by modifying them or by replacing the old ones with latest RDSO approved weighbridges in a phased manner.

7. Issue of difference between Permissible Carrying Capacity (PCC) / and

Stencil Capacity (CC) of wagon: In case of under-loading of rakes , total amount do not get refunded to the consumers, because as per FSA provision Coal Companies pay under loading charges limited to the difference of CC / stencil capacity and actual weight of coal loaded in the wagon. But Railways charge freight as per Permissible Carrying Capacity (PCC). In most cases PCC is more than CC. Requests have been made to bring in change in FSA provision of refund for under-loading based on Permissible Carrying Capacity instead of stencil capacity / CC.

8. Revision of distance based conces

sion for transporting coke & coal: At the advent of pandemic situation, concession in rail freight rate for transportation of coal had been urged upon. Distance based concession has been allowed above 1400 kms. This customer friendly initiative of distance based graded concession of 20% on Normal Tariff Rate (NTR) for transportation of coke & coal for distances above 1400 kms will only be beneficial to a handful of long-distance consumers. Hence, request has been made to provide the same concession for transportation coke & coal for a distance of more than 500 kms.

9. Payment of refund against freight

through e-payment: The consumers have to wait till the annual accounts reconciliation of Railways for receiving any payments arising out of diversion / refund /credit of the balance etc which leads to financial loss for them. Request has been made for considering immediate refund against freight through e-payment

10. High under-loading of rakes for

imported coal transportation: Imported coal cannot be loaded up to the full chargeable capacity of a wagon as it is low in density due to considerably lower ash content compared to domestic coal. This leads to huge under-loading charges in transportation of imported coal. The Railway authority is requested to undertake load ability test in case of imported coal and ensure that maximum possible weight of coal could be loaded based on the average density of imported coal. .