Kerala is facing an electricity shortage that has created the first major political crisis for the five-month-old Congress-led government of Chief Minister V D Satheesan. Power supply fell from around 65 million units a day to roughly 50 million units from mid-August, compounded by a nationwide deficit reported on September 2 due to coal shortages and scheduled maintenance. Although Satheesan stated on September 9 that the government expects the immediate shortage to ease by around September 15, outages continue to disrupt households, businesses, and irrigation pumps across several districts, prompting traders in some towns to announce a torchlight protest for September 14.
The political dispute involves a lapsed 25-year power purchase agreement for 465 MW at Rs 4.29 per unit. Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph blamed the previous LDF government for allowing the contract to be cancelled under former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Meanwhile, the opposition BJP alleged that scrapping the contract has cost the state more than Rs 2,130 crore in open-market power-purchase costs. Vijayan also criticized the government by linking the crisis to the creeping privatisation of India’s power sector, claiming about 60 percent of the country’s generation capacity belongs to large private conglomerates.
This marks a sharp reversal for Satheesan’s government, which took office in May after ousting the long-serving LDF administration and had avoided major controversies until now. Analysts note that the outages have made the crisis unusually visible and politically costly as households rely on fans and pumps through the end of the monsoon. The state electricity board has not provided a firm date for the full restoration of normal supply.