Coal supply to power plants increased by 24.5 per cent to 677.67 million tonnes in FY22 compared with the previous financial year, government data released on Friday showed. Despite the increase in supply, there have been fuel shortages for various thermal power plants due to soaring energy demand. However, data showed that coal supply from power companies was 544.07 tonnes in FY21, down from 567.25 tonnes in FY20.

“Power company shipments in FY22 increased by 19.47 per cent to 677.67 tonnes compared to 567.25 tonnes in FY20. Import prices have fallen since late October 2021, but import prices remain high to curb coal imports,” it says.
It added that coal dispatch in the power sector increased to 65.36 tonnes last month from 57.97 tonnes in the same period in FY21. Overall coal shipments also rose to 818.14 tonnes in FY22 from 691.39 tonnes in FY21.

Coal Minister AK Jain had earlier said that the demand for thermal coal would increase due to the increase in electricity demand, so there is a golden opportunity for coal block allocators to increase production. In October, several states complained about coal shortages at power plants, and some of them faced power outages for hours a day.