State-owned NTPC reported a 24.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in its standalone net profit to Rs 4,131.9 crore in the three months ended December mainly on higher power sales. NTPC revenue increased 18.1% to Rs 29,837.1 crore in Q3 as the power company sold 67.6 billion units of electricity in the period, 11.4% higher than the corresponding period last fiscal. The company’s board has approved an interim dividend of Rs 4 per share for FY22.
Expenses, mostly comprising fuel cost, grew 12.5% to Rs 24,428.1 crore. Overall coal consumption in the quarter increased by 16.4%y-o-y to 53.3 million tonne (MT), and the company’s coal imports doubled to 0.5 MT in the same period. Coal output from its newly-commissioned captive mines increased 55.6% to 4 MT. NTPC coal-based power stations achieved utilisation levels (PLF) of 68.9% in the first nine months of the fiscal, against the national average PLF of 57%. The company sold power at an average tariff of Rs 3.91 per unit in the same period.
The average plant availability factor (PAF) — which determines the fixed cost recovery levels — of NTPC coal stations fell 361 basis points y-o-y to 85.5% in the quarter. Fixed cost represents pre-determined expenditure components, including debt service obligation and risk-free returns. Power plants are contractually entitled to receive fixed costs even when buyers do not procure electricity from the units. However, the plants need to display a minimum PAF of 85% to claim the fixed costs. The Q3 quarterly sales figures also include Rs 676.3 crore pertaining to revision of energy charges, impact of rewarding regulatory orders and other adjustments.
Currently, the total installed capacity of the power behemoth stands at 67,757.4 mega-watt (MW)and around 83% of it are coal-based power plants. To increase the share of renewables, the company aims to attain 60,000 MW of green capacity by 2032 from the current level of around 1,300 MW. As FE reported earlier, it is also looking for strategic investors to offload some stake in its wholly-owned subsidiaries NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd (NREL) before floating initial public offerings of some of its subsidiaries, including NREL.