Kochi: At a time when the state was facing an acute power crisis, the BSES power plant at Pathalam in the Eloor industrial belt here was shut down after the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) refused to renew the power purchase agreement for over two years now. With it unable to find any revenue, the Reliance-owned BSES Kochi Pvt Ltd formally announced its decision to stop the functioning of its 165 MW power plant, being operated using naphtha fuel, by issuing a ‘Lockout’ notice to its over 150 employees. The previous UDF government had given an in-principal clearance for the renewal of the 15-year-old power purchase agreement, which had elapsed in October 2015. But with the KSEB showing no interest in renewing the pact, citing high cost of power, the state Electricity Regulatory Commission had dismissed a petition filed by the BSES recently.
“We have got a lockout notice today. The plant was commissioned in 2000 and the original agreement was for 15 years. The plant could generate 1,100 million units per annum which was enough to cater to 80 lakh domestic consumers. Further, the fixed cost charged is the lowest – Rs 34 paise per unit. However, the KSEB is in no mood to renew the agreement. The whole development has pushed over 150 families towards poverty,” BSES CITU union Secretary P A Sheries said.
The co-ordinated union committee has started a hunger strike in front of the plant, demanding intervention of the state government. Meanwhile, KSEB reiterated that it would not renew the power purchase agreement. “The variable charges go up to Rs10 per unit which would cause us a heavy loss. The board can buy power at a much lower rate from outside the state,” N Venugopal, KSEB Director (Distribu tion, Safety & Generation-Electrical) told DC. Meanwhile, a huge security issue has arisen with the plant stopping its functioning. “There is 6000-tonne of Naphtha fuel stored in the tanks with a residential area nearby. The government should immediately take action to shift it to a safer place,” said K N Gopinath, CITU district secretary. The development would also affect the public sector undertaking Travancore-Cochin Chemicals Ltd which has leased out its land to BSES at '5.5 crore per year.
