Kerala’s power crisis has triggered a political dispute over a cancelled 25-year electricity purchase agreement, with Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph blaming the previous LDF government for losing a contracted supply of 465 MW and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan rejecting the charge.
Joseph said the agreement, signed during the earlier UDF government at Rs 4.29 per unit, was cancelled during the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government and had contributed to the present shortage. He said electricity consumption had increased while generation had declined, leaving the state to repay power borrowed earlier.
“There is no immediate solution to the crisis,” Joseph told the media in Thiruvananthapuram, stressing that Kerala needed long-term measures to increase power availability. He said consumption was expected to nearly double during the summer, but the state could not immediately enter into new long-term power purchase agreements.
The minister also said the Kerala State Electricity Board was unable to procure sufficient electricity through the day-ahead and real-time markets because adequate power was not available there for short-term purchases. The cancelled agreement, signed during the tenure of former Congress electricity minister Aryadan Mohammed, would have secured 465 MW for Kerala at Rs 4.29 per unit, according to Joseph.
Vijayan rejected the allegation in a Facebook post, accusing the UDF government of attempting to shift responsibility for what he described as administrative failures and mismanagement. He said the agreement had been signed in 2015 by the KSEB without prior approval from the Centre, the state government or the regulatory commission.
According to Vijayan, legal deficiencies in the agreement led the regulatory commission to reject it. He said the then KSEB chairman and managing director had argued that continuing with the arrangement could cause losses to the board when questions involving deviations by the Centre and state governments were examined.
Vijayan said the agreement was eventually scrapped after a ruling by the Appellate Tribunal, while the LDF government approached the Supreme Court seeking its restoration in the public interest. He said the legal case had not yet reached a final conclusion. The regulatory commission finally denied approval to the agreement in 2023, he added.
The former chief minister said the previous government had maintained power availability without resorting to power cuts or load shedding, including during periods of poor rainfall. He cited purchases at higher rates, power-swapping arrangements with states that had surplus electricity and other measures used to avoid restrictions.
Vijayan alleged that the first signs of the current shortage had appeared in mid-May and early June, but that the government had failed to act in time. He also referred to Karnataka’s reported sale of power outside the state at Rs 9.08 per unit in July, questioning why Kerala could not seek a bilateral arrangement when it was willing to pay more than Rs 10 per unit.
He further alleged that the shortage was being used to create a crisis within the KSEB and impose hardship on consumers, while eventually presenting private companies as a solution. The competing claims have placed the cancelled agreement, regulatory approvals and KSEB’s current procurement options at the centre of the power crisis. The state government has said it will pursue long-term measures to augment electricity availability.
