Keralam Power Crisis: Govt, Oppn Trade Charges Over Shortage
12 Sept 2026 1:02 PM IST12 Sept 2026 1:02 PM IST
The Congress-led UDF government and opposition on Saturday traded charges over the ongoing power crisis in Keralam, with Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph blaming the previous LDF government for the situation.
Keralam Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph |File Image
Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress-led UDF government and opposition on Saturday traded charges over the ongoing power crisis in Keralam, with Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph blaming the previous LDF government for the situation and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan rejecting the charge over the cancellation of a long-term power purchase agreement.Joseph said the cancellation of a 25-year agreement to procure 465 MW of power at Rs 4.29 per unit, signed during the erstwhile UDF government, by the previous Pinarayi Vijayan regime had contributed to the present power shortage.
"Consumption has increased, while generation has decreased," Joseph told the media here, adding that the state was now having to repay power borrowed earlier.
The minister said there was no immediate solution to the crisis and stressed the need for long-term measures to augment power availability.
He said power consumption would nearly double during the summer and the state could not immediately enter into long-term power purchase agreements.
The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) was also unable to procure adequate power from the day-ahead and real-time markets through short-term purchases as sufficient power was not available there, Joseph said.
He said the 25-year agreement, signed during the tenure of former Congress Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed, would have secured 465 MW at Rs 4.29 per unit and the state was now facing the impact of losing that supply.
Rejecting the minister's allegations, Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said the UDF government was trying to shift the blame for its "administrative incompetence and mismanagement" on the previous LDF regime.
He questioned the claim that the LDF government's cancellation of the agreement was responsible for the present crisis, saying the agreement signed in 2015 during the UDF rule had been entered into without prior approval from the Centre, the state government or the regulatory commission.
According to Vijayan, legal shortcomings in the agreement, entered into unilaterally by the KSEB, led the regulatory commission to reject it.
The then KSEB CMD had taken the stand that continuing with the agreement would cause losses to the board when the issue of deviations involving the Centre and state governments was examined.
The agreement was ultimately scrapped following a ruling of the Appellate Tribunal, but the LDF government had approached the Supreme Court seeking its restoration in the public interest, he said, adding that the legal battle was yet to reach a final conclusion.
"If the UDF government had entered into the long-term agreement after following the prescribed norms, even this crisis could have been avoided," Vijayan said.
He pointed out that the regulatory commission had finally denied approval to the agreement in 2023 and alleged that the LDF government had subsequently managed power availability without resorting to power cuts or load shedding, including during periods of poor rainfall.
Vijayan said the previous government had purchased power at higher rates, entered into swapping arrangements with power-surplus states and took other measures to avoid restrictions.
He alleged that the initial signs of the present crisis had emerged by mid-May and early June, but the government failed to take timely action.
Vijayan also cited Karnataka's reported sale of power outside the state at Rs 9.08 per unit in July, questioning why the neighbouring state could not be approached for a bilateral arrangement when Keralam was willing to pay more than Rs 10 per unit.
He further alleged that the present power shortage was being used to create a crisis in the KSEB and cause hardship to consumers with the eventual aim of projecting the private sector as a "saviour". PTI LGK ROH
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( Source : PTI )
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