An alternative balance equation for the kinetic energy density used in the kinetic variational theory (KVT) is proposed. The new equation is consistent with the well-known standard form interpreted in terms of a flux and a source for both a one-component fluid and a mixture. Within the proposed version, the KVT mean-field collision term produces contributions to the heat flux and the source of kinetic energy being absent in the original formulation. It is shown that the introduced modification can affect the KVT thermal conductivity of the mixture while for the one-component fluid it becomes important only in the second and higher orders in gradients.