(ET)
The empowered committee headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha will meet for the first time on Friday to explore ushering in key reforms in the sector plagued with stressed assets. Some radical proposals likely to be discussed include doing away with the requirement of power generation plants to have power purchase tie-ups to get coal and a payment security mechanism for timely recovery of dues from the distribution companies, sources said. Private companies have been demanding norms for coal allocation since states have not been calling power purchase tenders. “Delinking coal supplies with power purchase agreements will be a major reform for the sector. Power generation companies have to participate in tariff-based bidding for PPAs while coal availability is restricted,” a government official said.
