Government of India have taken the following steps to reduce the cost of power generation and resultant reduction in cost of electricity to consumers:
(i) The Government in May, 2016 allowed flexibility in utilization of domestic coal by State/Central Gencos amongst their generating stations to reduce the cost of power generation by allocating more coal to their most efficient plants as well as by saving in transportation cost. The States may also transfer their linkage coal to IPPs selected through bidding process and take equivalent power.
(ii) Rationalization of linkage sources of State/Central Gencos and IPPs with a view to optimize transportation cost has been allowed.
(iii) The Government has introduced the SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India)-2017 Scheme to provide coal linkages to the power plants which do not have linkage, thus helping the generators to get cheaper coal and thereby reduction in cost of generation.
(iv) A Merit Order Despatch System has been put in place for Inter State Generating Stations under which electricity from more efficient/lower cost plant are despatched first.
This information was given by Shri R.K. Singh , Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
