The Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) bid to tackle the surging summer demand through additional power procurements has failed to evoke much enthusiasm on the part of power companies.
No company quoted in response to the tender for the supply of 500 MW during the evening peak hours for the period from April 15 to April 30. The KSEB had invited bids for the same volume of peak-time power for May, but only one company quoted 25 MW at the rate of ₹10 per unit.
The KSEB had also invited bids for round-the-clock supply of 500 MW for the period from June 1 to June 30. Multiple companies have agreed to supply a total of 435 MW at ₹7.33 and ₹7.43 per unit. The KSEB management will take a final decision on the bids and approach the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
In all, 11 companies had responded to the tenders floated by the KSEB through the Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (DEEP) portal. The tenders were opened on Friday.
In this situation, the KSEB is hoping to meet the additional summer demand through purchases from the energy exchanges. The power utility is also hoping that strengthened summer rainfall over the next few days will help to significantly reduce the electricity demand.
As per the projections made by the KSEB earlier, the State is likely to face a shortage of 800-850 MW during the evening peak hours in April and 600-800 MW in May.
