Power Talk: How CM Satheesan's power purchase compulsions took a dramatic turn in just a week

Thiruvananthapuram: A week after consuming nearly half an hour to do a comparative analysis of power from two sources - Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and General Access Network (GNA) - Chief Minister VD Satheesan sprang a surprise on Wednesday. He said both these deals were not considered seriously by the UDF government.

Satheesan said power from one of the sources, Himachal, did not even exist. "By the time the file came before me, Himachal had already sold its power to Rajasthan for ₹15.50 per unit on October 18. In fact, this was noted in the file itself," Satheeesan said on Wednesday.

But a week ago, the CM gave no hint that Himachal power was unavailable. Of course, he did mention during the previous briefing that Himachal had sold power to Rajasthan at ₹15.50 per unit.

But this was not to establish that Himachal power was no longer an option but to argue that it would be difficult for Himachal to reduce its price. "When they have already sold power at ₹15.50 per unit, how can you expect them to sell us power at a lower cost," the CM had then said. He was merely emphasising the GNA advantage.

Deal or No Deal
Satheesan also expressed relief that he had chosen GNA over Himachal. "The Himachal deal would have imposed an additional burden of ₹2,232 crore, a cost the state government would have had to bear," the CM said, and with a triumphant smile quizzed the reporters: "What would you people have asked if I had decided to buy from Himachal at ₹14.50 per unit instead of from GNA at ₹8.63?"

This implied that he had decided to go with the GNA deal. In fact, the GNA deal was more than a suggestion during his last post-Cabinet briefing. "We have decided to buy from GNA," he had specifically said.

But on Wednesday, the CM said there was no such decision. He said GNA was a better option but added that he did not instruct KSEB to sign a deal with the company. "I wanted them to first assess the power situation in the state," the CM said on Wednesday. "Neither was an order issued nor an agreement signed (with GNA)," the CM said.

Sunny in the dark
Satheesan kept a safe distance from posers about Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph's displeasure. "The Electricity Minister has said that he knew of the decision to cancel the GNA deal from newspapers," the CM was told. "I too came to know of this from the papers," the CM quipped. "There was never such a deal for it to be scrapped," he said. The CM added that the file on which he had written his remarks was sent back to the Electricity Minister, hinting that he had kept the minister in the loop.

One advantage of Himachal power over GNA's was that it would be available even after March, during the harsh summer months of April and May.

On Wednesday, Satheesan said Keralam's requirements for April and May were accounted for. "NTPC had already promised to provide power from Sinnar during April and May. I have held discussions with the NTPC chairman in Delhi, and it has been agreed to sell power at ₹5.18 per unit. If we can get power at ₹5.18 from NTPC, why would anyone want to purchase power from other sources," the CM said.

Will Sinnar be enough?
However, KSEB sources said supply from NTPC was already factored in its forward planning. There will be 270 MW from NTPC's Sinnar Thermal Power Plant during December and January, and after its second unit is commissioned in February, the supply will be scaled up to 540 MW.

Fact is, even after securing power from NTPC, there would be a shortage of 600 MW daily. "At the moment, we have power available in the Real-Time and Day Ahead markets at competitive prices. Since we are told that El Niño conditions still prevail, the weather conditions can change, causing shortages like we witnessed in August and September," a top KSEB official said. Usually, the year-on-year increase in monthly power consumption was below 5 per cent for September. But this time, the increase was 21 per cent compared to 2025.

As it stands, the supply from Central Generating Stations are also steady but KSEB anticipates outages after the Diwali festival period. "In that case, power shortage will intensify. In situations like this, a short-term contract with Himachal or even GNA would have felt like a blessing," the official said.

Rajamanickam's 'emotional blackmail'
In October, when the then KSEB chairman MG Rajamanickam prepared a note for the government, the behaviour of the northeast monsoon was still uncertain because of the prevailing El Nino effect. Possibly why his note to the CM said that there could be "prolonged power cut" if a deal was not struck. Satheesan said that any CM would be worried by such a dystopian observation.

Though he still bristled at this recommendation, the CM was non-committal about conducting a probe into the circumstances that led the former KSEB chairman to submit such a proposal before him. "Let's see," is what he said when asked whether a probe will be instituted.

Now, the new team in KSEB has found that there was no immediate crisis to warrant new short-term power purchases. "For the moment, we don't require power. But in the coming months, the need might arise," the CM said.