Price pooling of domestic, international coal in pipeline

The government is formulating a policy to balance international and domestic coal prices by "pooling" the rates with a view to contain the rising costs of the vital raw material used in power generation.A committee under the chairmanship of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) chairperson was set up earlier this month to look into the matter."The committee will work toward pooling of international and domestic coal prices so that the cost of production does not rise... as international coal is expensive and also domestic coal is not sufficient for the plants," a senior Power Ministry official said.Pooling refers to the process in which the domestic and international prices of material are averaged out to enable uniformity of rates for all consumers, irrespective of where they are sourcing the material from.The committee comprises officials from the power, coal, environment ministries, the Planning Commission and state government officials.The report of the committee on the issue is expected on Wednesday.