Criticising the recent price hike in coal prices by the central government, the Gujarat government has said that this price rise will create additional burden of Rs180 crore on the state's exchequer.
Gujarat minister of state for energy & petroleum, Saurabh Patel, said, "The Centre has recently increased prices of coal by 11.5%, which will increase the power generation cost of Gujarat's power plants by crores of rupees. Coal which the state purchased at Rs866 per metric tone will now cost Rs966 per metric tone.
As per the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission's fuel adjustment charges, electricity users of Gujarat will now have to bear Rs0.5 paisa extra per unit. The fuel adjustment cost was been reduced by Rs0.17 paisa to Rs0.74 paisa from Rs0.91 paisa. Now it will increase by Rs0.05 paisa. Along with state government's units, the central government's NTPC's units too will have to bear the additional costs.
Gujarat consumes 18 lakh tone of coal every year and procures it from Coal India Ltd. Cost of coal production should have come down owing to new technologies, say experts, but has instead risen due to mismanagement by Coal India.
The price hike will cost people of Gujarat Rs180 crore more. The Centre should come out with a policy soon, the minister said.
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