Kochi: Kerala is exploring all available options to purchase electricity, including sources offering power at rates as high as ₹30 per unit, Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph said, while blaming the previous LDF government for scrapping a long-term power purchase agreement that offered electricity at ₹4.20 per unit.

Speaking to reporters, Joseph said the government was trying to procure additional power to meet the rising demand in the state, even if it meant paying significantly higher rates.

“Right now, we are trying to purchase power by any means as many people are saying they want electricity even if the price is high,” he said.

The minister acknowledged that purchasing power at higher tariffs would put an additional financial burden on the government. He said the government had not currently considered passing this burden on to consumers through a cess.

“Right now, money is not the priority, it is power,” Joseph said.

He said the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was among the main sources being considered for procuring electricity.

Joseph also said the government was taking legal steps to revive the long-term power purchase agreement entered into with private power companies during the previous UDF government. The agreement, under which around 440 MW of power was to be supplied at ₹4.20 per unit, was scrapped by the subsequent LDF government.

The minister termed the decision to scrap the agreement a mistake and said the present power crisis could have been avoided had the state retained the arrangement. “If that much supply was available, the state would not have had to borrow electricity in March-April and we would not have had to return that borrowed power currently,” he said.

Joseph claimed that the LDF government later attempted to rectify its decision to scrap the agreement, but by then it was too late. "They sat on the agreement for eight years without doing anything," he said.

Kerala has been experiencing power outages, particularly during the night, amid a sharp increase in electricity consumption and difficulties faced by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in procuring additional power from other states.