Minutes of a July meeting of an advisory group on integrated power development, headed by Suresh Prabhu, said, “NTPC’s performance was affected in recent years, and continues to be so, by the general situation of the coal shortage in the country. While this is true, it is also a fact that NTPC could develop the coal blocks allotted to it from 2004.”

The retirement of these four units, each with capacity of 62.5 Mw, would mean a loss of 250 Mw to Odisha since the entire power generated by NTPC's TTPS is supplied to state owned bulk power purchaser Gridco as per a power purchase agreement (PPA). The four units were identified to be phased out since they are old units commissioned during 1967-69.

The two coal blocks in Odisha and Chhatisgarh are expected to fuel 4,500 MW of new power generation capacity being set up by NTPC that could be delayed if these blocks are not freed from encumbrances, NTPC.

The unaudited profit after tax stood at Rs 2,201 crore for the first quarter of financial year 2014-15, compared to Rs 2,527 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

"We have enough stocks to run our plants. There is no coal supply issues as of now," said an official of NTPC looking after Odisha plants.

Late on Monday, NTPC Ltd informed the Power Ministry that these coal-based plants — located in the northern, western and southern regions — have “reached at a critical level of coal sufficient only for less than two days”.

NTPC, India’s largest power producer, had approached the Delhi high court to appeal CERC’s February order that revised the incentive structure for state-run power generation companies. The court had asked CERC to consider NTPC’s representation.

Key reforms mandated by the Electricity Act have not been implemented, corporatisation has been unable to shield utilities from state interference, regulators have not pushed utilities to improve performance and mounting regulatory assets have increased the discoms’ cash-flow problems, said the report More power to India: The challenge of distribution.

Bids have been sought for EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) package for the Khargone super thermal power plant coming up in Madhya Pradesh. The plant would have two units, each having a generation capacity of 660 MW.