Long-term power sale pact: KSERC rejects KSEB's plea

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala state electricity regulatory commission (KSERC) rejected KSEB's plea to direct power-generating agencies to comply with the commission's order to honour the long-term power sale agreements, to which the regulator initially denied permission but revised its decision later following state govt intervention.
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KSEB was the first power utility in the country to tap into the 25-year-long power purchase scheme introduced by the Union power ministry in 2013. A year after KSEB signed the pacts, the commission pointed out some deviations in the conditions set by the central govt for the power purchase agreement. It said KSEB should have obtained prior permission from the commission and wanted KSEB to obtain clearance from the Centre.
The Centre, however, recommended appropriate steps as deemed fit by the Kerala govt, regulatory commission, and KSEB. Since the agreements were already signed, there was no point in the Centre suggesting how to proceed, it said. The LDF govt also developed some scepticism about the deviations pointed out by the regulatory commission for the 465 MW power purchase agreements signed when the UDF was in power. Subsequently, the commission in March 2023 rejected KSEB's approval for the power purchase.
However, following the acute power crisis and mounting criticism against the commission for annulling the power purchase agreements on technical grounds, the state govt was forced to exercise section 109 (2) of the Electricity Act and ask the commission to let KSEB draw power from the agreements cancelled by the commission.
Though the commission complied and gave KSEB permission to draw power, most of the companies refused to reinstate the agreements which the commission earlier annulled.
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Eventually, all companies stopped supplying power to KSEB as the cost of power increased significantly by then. It was in this context that KSEB approached the commission, seeking directives to two power generators who refused to honour the agreement, which the commission once cancelled and later gave conditional approval following govt intervention.
KSEB said in its petition that it was in talks with one of the generating companies and hence the directive should be passed against the other two. However, the commission, in its order on June 12, said the petition filed by KSEB was defective in pleading and not legally sustainable.

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