The domestic power sector imported 35.3 million tonnes (MT) of coal during the April-October period of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Of the total imports, the import-based power plants or the plants that run on imported coal brought in 21.7 MT coal, according to the data shared by Union Minister RK Singh in the Rajya Sabha.
For the blending purpose, the thermal plants imported 13.6 MT of coal, the Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy said.
During the preceding 2022-23 fiscal, the total import was 55.6 MT, of which import-based plants imported 20.5 MT coal and the remaining 35.1 MT thermal power plants.
Thermal power plants need coal to produce power.
Till October 2023, Singh said 10,47,439 million units of power were produced in India.
He also informed that about 19.79 crore pre-paid consumers’ smart meters are planned to be deployed across states.
These states/UTs also plan to deploy around 52 lakh distribution transformer (DT) smart meters and 1.88 lakh feeder smart meters under the RDSS (Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme).
The scheme will continue up to FY 2025-26. The target of the scheme is to reduce AT&C losses to pan-India levels of 12-15 per cent and eliminate the ACS-ARR (Average Cost of Supply and Average Realizable Revenue ) gaps by 2024-25. This would help bring financial viability to the Discoms and improve the power sector as a whole.