Thiruvananthapuram: To address the ongoing power crisis, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has granted KSEB (Kerala State Electricity Board) conditional permission to purchase short-term electricity at higher rates from October through to May next year. Approval has been granted for contracts priced up to ₹12.50 per unit, with the average price working out to ₹10.40 per unit. Since the power procurement begins in October, immediate relief from load shedding will not occur.

The Commission did not approve all the contracts drawn up by KSEB. While KSEB had formed agreements to procure 835 million units of electricity for ₹749.72 crore, the Commission only approved contracts to purchase 346.4 million units for ₹347.79 crore. KSEB had also agreed to high-cost contracts for round-the-clock power supply. However, because daytime electricity is currently in surplus and the rates were extremely high, the Commission denied approval for those continuous supply contracts. KSEB must assess the situation and submit a report in December, after which a decision will be made on further power purchases.

Daily power outages set at 50 minutes across two cuts

KSEB has issued specific procedures to manage evening electricity distribution across the state. Under the plan, each feeder transformer must be switched off twice daily for 25 minutes per instance, resulting in a total outage of 50 minutes.

Feeders that experience lower loads and were previously not subject to twice-daily disruptions are now instructed to comply as well. For such feeders, power supply will be restricted between 6.20 pm and 6.45 pm during peak hours.