Government launches High Price Day Ahead Market and Surplus Power Portal

In order to provide increased power availability during the period of highest demand, the Central Government has developed a High Price Day Ahead Market and Surplus Power Portal (PUShP). In the presence of more than 200 stakeholders from state governments and the power sector, Union Power and NRE Minister R.K. Singh recently launched the platform during a virtual event in New Delhi.

A large number of senior Ministry of Power officials, including Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Electricity and Heavy Industries; Alok Kumar, Secretary; Ghanshyam Prasad, Chairman, CEA; S. N. Goel, CMD, IE; and S.R. Narsimhan, CMD, Grid India, were present.

The Ministry of Electricity instructed the CERC to set a price cap of ₹ 12 on the power exchange last year after noticing that on some days the rates had risen to ₹ 20. This was done to prevent profiteering. The cap was implemented in the Day Ahead and Real Time Markets starting on April 1, 2022, and in all other divisions starting on May 6, 2022. This action made the pricing more reasonable for buyers.

The power produced by using gas was expensive—more than ₹ 12 per unit—and this capacity could not be sold on the market due to the high pricing of gas on the global market. Similarly, because of their high generation costs, imported coal-based facilities and renewable energy stored in battery energy storage systems could not be made operational.

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