THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With a looming power crisis, the state will take a final call on whether to go for load shedding or opt for a tariff hike on August 21. The State Electricity Board has clearly conveyed the gravity of the ongoing power crisis to the state government.
At a high-level meeting chaired by Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty to take stock of the power situation in the state on Wednesday, the KSEB informed the government about the extreme power crisis. A decision has been taken to wait till Monday to take a call on load shedding or power tariff hike to meet the cost of power purchase from outside.
Incidentally, August 21 marks the end of the 75-day deadline given by two leading multinational power companies to provide power to the state at the same rate at which they used to sell power to the state before a power-purchase agreement with them was cancelled last May.
At the meeting, the power minister urged KSEB chairman Rajan Khobragade to give a report on the urgent steps needed to address the current imbroglio, by Monday. Based on the report, the government will take a call.
Either way, the consumers will have to bear the brunt of the situation. A top board official told TNIE that, other than a weak monsoon, the cancellation of the power-purchase agreement (PPA) has significantly contributed to the current power crisis.
“We could have purchased power from three leading power MNCs at Rs 4.60 per unit. With the cancellation of PPA, now we buy power at Rs 13 per unit. On Tuesday, the state’s requirement was 500 megawatts. But we could get only less than 120 megawatts. This shows the seriousness of the issue,” said the official.
It was the State Electricity Regulatory Commission that had directed to cancel the PPA. Following this, the state was given 75 days to avail power from three MNCs.