KSEB purchases turn costly after Christmas

Thiruvananthapuram: Three days after Christmas, KSEB Limited’s power purchase cost began soaring. Till then, it had secured virtually insignificant quantity of power from costly naphtha and diesel sources.

But from December 28, the intake from costly sources began to swell; from a mere 0.48 million units to 11 MU. The official response is that hydel stations, which have been overworked over the last six months, are being rested.

On an average, KSEB Ltd purchases 11 million units from costly stations daily. Even at the height of drought last year, the Board had not purchased more than nine million units from costly stations. Ever since December last, power consumption had crossed the 55 million unit mark daily. This was mainly met by increasing hydel generation and drawing heavily from cheap central generating stations.

“The power consumption has remained at a high level. But we have cut down on hydel generation and increased supply from diesel and naphtha sources,” a top KSEB source said. NTPC, Kayamkulam; BSES and Kozhikode Diesel Power Plant are the major sources of costly power.

Power from all these power plants cost above Rs 11 per unit. “The Board cannot be blamed for the spurt in consumption. It also schedules over 25 MU from cheap central generating stations. For the remaining, it has no choice but to depend on costly stations,” the source said.