Amid criticism over power outages, Keralam CM says govt expects power crisis to ease by mid-September

Amid widespread public criticism over unscheduled power outages across the state, Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan said the government expects to ease the power crisis by mid-September through various measures.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, he said that instructions would be issued to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to streamline power cut notifications.

Demand up

Mr. Satheesan said that due to weak monsoon, the water level in the state’s hydroelectric dams was low, leading to reduced power generation. Less power is also available for purchase from North Indian states due to shortage of coal for thermal power generation. According to him, peak demand has increased by 800-900 MW compared to the same period last year.

He said the state government was facing a situation where it would have to purchase electricity at a high cost. According to him, the government is taking various measures to bring power without adding additional burden to the consumers.

He blames the LDF for the crisis

Mr Satheesan blamed the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for the crisis on the long-standing power purchase agreement signed by the Oommen Chandy government.

“Under the deal, we could get 465MW at ₹4.29. The LDF government canceled the deal and was buying power at rates in the range of ₹8-14. If this deal was still valid, we wouldn’t be facing this crisis,” he said.

Regarding the scrapping of the long-term power purchase agreement in 2023, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan had said in July this year that the LDF government initially went ahead with the agreement signed by the UDF government even though it had differences with some clauses. However, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) decided to cancel the agreement.

Published – 9 Sep 2026 14:13 IST