Thiruvananthapuram: Keralam Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph on Monday said the state government, as always, is trying to provide power at the lowest possible rates and is in talks with NTPC in this regard.
Joseph also said that the government is taking legal steps to restore the long-term power purchase agreement that was entered into with private power companies during the last UDF government and which was canceled by the previous LDF administration.
In response to questions from reporters about the impact of purchasing power on higher rates, such as Rs 30 per unit, the minister said it would create an “additional financial burden” on the government.
Asked whether the burden would be shifted to consumers through clichés in the future, he said that this aspect was not being considered at present.
“We are now trying to buy electricity by any means possible because many people say they want electricity even if the price is high. As temperatures rise, the use of fans and air conditioners increases,” he said.
He said the Centre-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was one of the main power procurement options being considered by the state.
The minister said it was a wrong decision to scrap the agreement under which around 440 megawatts of power could have been made available to the government at a cost of Rs 4.2 per unit and the current power supply crisis could have been avoided.
“If this amount of supply had been available, the state would not have had to borrow power in March-April, and we would not have to return that borrowed power at this time,” he said.
The then LDF government tried to rectify its mistake by withdrawing from the agreement, “but by then it was too late,” he further said.
Joseph a day ago said that the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has decided to approach the state government to allow procurement of additional power at higher prices to meet the growing demand amid power shortage in the state.
Keralam is experiencing power outages, especially at night, amid soaring consumption and KSEB’s difficulty in procuring additional power from other states.