Low coal reserve, wind, hydro output fall behind high IEX tariff: AK Bhalla

Insufficient coal reserves at power plants and sudden decline in wind and hydro electricity generation led to spike in power tariff to Rs 15.37 per unit at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Power Secretary A K Bhalla said Friday.

"This is the time (in the year) when wind energy suddenly goes down and hydro also starts declining and that is where some constraints always come in,"

This time, the constraints are compounded as "we were not able to build coal stocks in power plants especially in northern India," Bhalla told reporters on the sidelines of a CII conference on power transmission.

These constraints lead to soaring of power tariff, though for a short duration of 15 minutes or half an hour.