Kerala’s power crisis has triggered a fresh political dispute after V D Satheesan said the state had not signed any formal agreement with private power platform GNA and therefore could not have withdrawn from a contract. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Satheesan said the government was still examining whether additional electricity needed to be purchased and rejected allegations that the administration had created an artificial crisis to favour a private supplier.
Satheesan said the Kerala State Electricity Board had initially warned that the state could face prolonged power cuts from November if a decision was not taken on purchasing electricity. However, he said another team later examined the situation and concluded that there was no immediate requirement to buy additional power. “No one can force me to take a decision hurriedly by such tactics,” he said, adding that he was studying the file rather than delaying it.
The dispute centres on competing procurement options placed before the government. Satheesan said the Electricity Department had informed him that Kerala could purchase power from the Himachal Pradesh government at around Rs 14 per unit or from GNA at around Rs 8 per unit. The file, he said, also recorded that power from Himachal Pradesh had been allocated to Rajasthan by October 18 at more than Rs 15 per unit, leaving GNA as the available alternative at that stage.
Satheesan said GNA appeared to be the better option on price, but the government then decided to assess whether electricity was required immediately. He cited Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph’s position that there was no current requirement to proceed with the purchase. The minister had earlier said he learnt through news reports that the government was withdrawing from the proposed GNA agreement.
Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan had alleged that the recent power shortage was created artificially to enable procurement from a private entity at high rates, with consumers ultimately bearing the cost. He had also claimed that the government abandoned the proposed purchase after opposition questions about irregularities and possible financial losses to the exchequer. Satheesan rejected those allegations and said Vijayan had made contradictory statements about whether Kerala should purchase power from Himachal Pradesh or avoid buying additional electricity altogether.
The dispute has also exposed the state’s continuing dependence on short-term power purchases. Satheesan blamed the previous LDF government for failing to increase generation capacity, establish battery storage and secure long-term power purchase arrangements over the past decade. He said Kerala’s daytime solar generation, including rooftop solar installed at homes, could not be stored at scale, limiting its usefulness beyond the hours of generation.
Satheesan said the proposed GNA arrangement, if pursued, would have supplied power only until March 2027. He said the National Thermal Power Corporation had promised electricity from its Sinnar plant in Maharashtra at Rs 5.18 per unit from April, after which the state planned to enter into an arrangement with NTPC and seek an increase in the power available from that source.
The government has promised to announce a permanent solution to the power crisis by the end of November. Satheesan said the plan would include increasing renewable power generation.
