June 21, 2012.Cost of power generation for companies in Maharashtra is slated to rise as Coal India will hike price of coal supplied by Western Coalfields. Cost of power generation by NTPC's Farakka and Kahalgaon units may also rise as the coal monopoly is considering a hike in prices from its Rajmahal mines under Eastern Coalfields. Coal prices in Maharashtra are expected to go up by 6-7% while prices of Rajmahal coal may be hiked by ' 200 a tonne. While GCV measures the amount of heat liberated by carbon and hydrogen in the coal when it is heated, is an internationally accepted pricing mechanism, due to the high ash content in Indian coal, the UHV mechanism (used before January 1, 2012) was followed that took into account the heat trapped in ash. Typically in Indian coal, GCV is 25% higher than UHV. Western Coal fields supplies to power generation companies in Maharashtra. This includes Mahagenco which supplies to areas other than Mumbai in Maharashtra while Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure and BESE. With Western Coalfields slates to raise prices of coal, power tariff in the entire Maharashtra is slated to rise.