Bilaspur, August 19: South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (SECL) has issued a notice for the modification in NRS Linkage Auction platform/documents for determination of normative coal requirement of the End Use Plant having linked coal block/mine. The change is for modification of methodology in computation of Normative Coal Requirement & Annual Coal Quantity (ACQ).
It is submitted that modification has been done in the calculation of normative coal requirement for ascertaining the eligibility of the bidders, from adjustment of PRC of the captive coal mine to production schedule-based adjustment.
Potential participants are requested to kindly take the note of the same. The modifications shall become effective immediately. For already registered bidders at MSTC who are having linked coal blocks/mines.
Current practice
Any bidder who has been allotted any coal mine, the Peak Rated Capacity (PRC) of the coal mine is being reduced from the computation of the Normative Coal Requirement. Thus, even if the PRC is being obtained 7-10 years down the line, the entire quantity is being reduced and the bidders are provided with the less coal requirement. Bidders are of the view that since they are not producing at their PRC from Day 1, their PRC should not be reduced as they are unable to secure the balance coal requirement from anywhere else.
Proposed change
Bidders shall now be classified under 2 categories; Category 1 Bidders – having approved mining plan and Mine Opening Permission; Category 2 Bidders – not having Mine mechanism is proposed. Bidders shall be required to submit their year on year production schedule on the electronic platform for the next 10 years for all except the coking coal subsector. The coking coal subsector production schedule has to be provided for 15 years.
In the event Mine Opening Permission is granted during a financial year, the first financial year should correspond to the period between the date of grant of Mine Opening Permission and the corresponding financial year end. In the event of already producing mine, the first financial year shall be the current financial year in which this auction is being held.
Electronics System shall consider the minimum production of any year as per the production schedule submitted by the bidder and reduce if from the computation of the normative coal requirement i.e. instead of PRC, now reducing the minimum production.
Adjustment in the allocated quantity for the year shall be carried out in case the Energy Requirement for the year computed is less than the total energy requirement booked for the specified end use plant during the auction under the particular tranche.
For category 2 bidders, the coal requirement met through captive coal mine shall be considered as zero while computing the normative coal requirement. This is because if the mine opening permissions is not received, the bidders will not be carrying out any mining activities in the mine and hence there will be no production. Once the Mine Opening Permissions is received from CCO, the Bidders shall submit the same immediately to the coal company along with the production schedule. Year on Year ACQ shall be adjusted based on the production schedule submitted by the bidder in the manner similar to the adjustment carried out for Category 1 bidders.
In case of any subsequent change in the production schedule post execution of the FSA, the bidders shall have to submit the revised Production Schedule to the relevant coal company immediately upon approval of the same from the competent authority.
