Consumers' Page

Submissions made by both Power and NRS consumers:

1. Request to QCI to modify the procedure of sample collection under 3rd Party Sampling under Road Mode Linkage Auction FSAs:

Disparity between the 3rd Party coal quality analysis reportat the loading end vis-à-vis the unloading end/ plant end has been one of the major issues faced by the consumers under Road Mode Linkage Auction FSAs during the 3rd party sampling. This disparity mainly occurs due to the procedure of sample collection under 3rd Party Sampling where samples are taken from every 8th truck which means only 12% of the trucks are being sampled. In order to eradicate this disparity it has been requested to modify the process of sample collection so that those samples are taken from every 3rd truck. This move will ensure that 33% of the trucks are sampled, which will make the results of coal quality analysis at loading end and unloading end more consistent.

2. Request for enabling infrastructure Facilities for Third Party Sampling & Analysis at Loading End:

Non-availability of the required infrastructure facilities at loading end for carrying out 3rd Party Sampling and Analysis such as lighting facility, manual sample preparation due to non-availability of machines, nonavailability of separate rooms for keeping 3rd party samples, no CCTV camera in the Referee labs for constant monitoring, not allowing consumers to witness the sampling and analysis process etc hampers the real purpose of 3rd Party sampling process. Request has been made to CIL and Subsidiaries to make necessary resources available at the loading end for conducting the 3rd Party Sampling process in a more effective and transparent manner.

Submissions made by Power Sector Consumers:

3. Significant variation between billed grades and received grades of coal in certain mines of ECL:

The issue of grade slippage from various mines of ECL has been longstanding and rampant which has been impacting the operations of both Power and NRS consumers procuring coal from the Subsidiary. In spite of promise made by ECL authorities regarding significant improvement in the quality of coal supplied from various ECL sidings from September 2020 onwards, it has been noticed that quality of coal received by Power sector consumers from Salanpur and Bankola sidings of ECL has further deteriorated in September’20 compared to the previous five months of FY 2020-21.

Request has been made to CIL and ECL to immediately minimise the instances of grade slippage and ensure supply of declared grades of coal from ECL.

4. Issue of grade slippage from Talcher sidings of MCL:

Power sector consumers procuring coal from MCL are facing significant operational difficulties due torepeated instances of grade variation in coal procured from MCL’s Talcher SPUR- I, II, IV, VI, VII, VIIIsidings during June-August 2020 period. Variations in the tune of one to three grades are consistentlyoccurring in the rakes loaded from these sidings. Request has been madeto the concerned coal company along with CIL and MoC by the Power sector totake up necessary measures in order to ensure supply of declared grade of coal as consistent gradeslippage hampers the generation and increases the per unit energy cost.

Submissions made by NRS Consumers:

5. Submission by NRS consumers regarding significant grade slippage from tertiary sources of SECL:

NRS consumers having FSAs with SECL’s Mahan II OCP were not able to procure the allotted quantity due to non-availability of coal at the said colliery. Hence, they were allowed to lift the FSA quantity from a tertiary source of the Subsidiary-Balarampur UG. However, instead of receiving G-13 (250 mm) ROM coal which was mentioned in the FSA, they have been receiving G-16 grade of coal from the siding. Supply of such lower grade coal is impacting the operations at the plant and also commercially unviable. Request has been made to SECL to ensure that the consumers may receive the actual grade of coal from both primary and tertiary sources of the Subsidiary.

Issues faced exclusively by NRS consumers:

6. Request for refund of security deposit and advance amount from SECL to NRS consumers:

Certain NRS consumers have long-pending refund worth more than crores of rupees in form of security deposit and advance amount layingwith SECL since last year (2019) following the termination of their respective FSAs. The situation is causing further financial crisis to the affected NRS consumers and even leading some of them towards bankruptcy as they are already going an economic downturn under the COVID situation.

Request has been made to SECL to immediately process the refund of security deposit and advance amount alongwith the interest to the respective consumers.

7. Pending quality claims for Nonpower sector consumers from ECL:

i. Several Industries procuring coal from ECL have large amounts of compensation pending since September 2018 in form of quality claims as the Referee analysis result of received quantity revealed that the supplied grade of coal was often significantly lower than the billed grade. ii. In some cases, third party analysis results showing grade slippage, were challenged by ECL after the stipulated timeframe, which subsequently got rejected by QCI (3 rd party agency) as per the norms of tripartite agreement. However, ECL has not resolved this issueagainst any claim of those amounts so far. Submissions and deliberations are continuing for taking upthese pending claims into processing.