An embattled Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has floated a tender for procuring 300 megawatts (MW) to 800 MW for meeting the electricity demand for the three-month period from October to December this year (2026)
The move for the short-term purchases comes at a time when Keralam is passing through a monsoon-season power crisis and the KSEB is drawing flak for imposing power curbs in the night.
The proposed purchases are meant to meet the additional demand during the evening hours when demand peaks as well as the early morning hours.
Bids have been invited from power generators, State utilities, captive power producers (CPP), distribution licencees, State electricity boards and traders for the period from October 1 to December 31, 2026. The procurement is planned in line with Ministry of Power norms through the Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (DEEP) e-bidding portal, the KSEB said.
For October, the KSEB is seeking between 300 MW and 600 MW for the timeframes between 5 p.m. and midnight and midnight and 8.30 a.m. For November also, the proposed procurement ranges between 300 MW and 600 MW. For December, the requirement is 500 MW to 800 MW. In addition to this, the KSEB is also eyeing 300 MW of round-the-clock (RTC) supply each for October, November and December.
The tender was floated on Monday (September 14). The non-financial technical bids will be opened on September 23. The initial public offerings (IPO) will be opened at 11 a.m. on September 25.
On Monday, the KSEB had sourced 75 MW from Odisha’s GRIDCO and 15 MW from ACB India Ltd for meeting the excess demand.
Published – September 15, 2026 04:00 pm IST
