Coal cess doubled – to increase power tariff by 15 paisa/unit
The government for the third time in a row increased the cess on coal, lignite and pite production to Rs 400 per tonne to fund clean energy projects. In the last Union Budget, cess on coal was doubled to Rs 200 per tonne. In his maiden budget in July 2014, finance minister Arun Jaitley increased it to Rs 100 per tonne from Rs 50 per tonne. The cess is collected as National Clean Energy Fund and is disbursed for renewable energy based initiatives and power projects.
