India likely to hike power tariffs as well

Close on the heels of the petrol price hike, electricity tariffs across the country are also expected to go up once the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) approves a hike in the unit price of electricity sold to customers.

Power utilities, including NTPC, the country's largest power generating company, have been demanding an increase in power tariffs amidst rising cost of inputs, including coal, CERC chief said today.

With state-run Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal miner, failing to meet the rising domestic demand for coal, he said, these power utilities have been scouting for coal assets oversees to fuel the burgeoning power demand in Asia's third largest economy.

Global thermal coal prices have risen to around $120 a tonne from less than $100 per tonne a year ago.

The CERC move comes after NTPC sought tariff approval for sale of 425 MW of power from its Korba Super Thermal Power Station (Stage-III).

The union ministry of power had, last year, allocated 425 MW of power from NTPC's generating station at Korba to power utilities in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, as also the union territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Silvassa. NTPC has now sought CERC nod for sale of the balance 75 MW of power from the generating station outside the long term PPA for market development in terms of the National Electricity Policy.