CERC published a draft order for modification of TAM contracts seeking public comments. The proposals in the order were for discontinuing Intra-Day contracts, changing the price clearing mechanism for Day Ahead Contingency Contracts and Standardising ADSS contract timelines across exchanges. Prayas (Energy Group) submitted that modifications in TAM contracts should take into account growth in transmission capacity, GNA implementation, green open access and should aim to reduce fragmentation and increase liquidity. This is especially important with over  70% of traded volume in power exchanges being purchased by cost-plus DISCOMs. The following changes are detailed in this submission:

• Discontinuation of Intra-day contracts  in the wake of RTM contracts.
• Discontinuation of DAC contracts over time. If DAC contracts are required, they can be national contracts with double sided closed auctions.
• Standardisation of Daily, Weekly and Monthly contracts such that they all are  national contracts with price discovery via double sided closed auctions across the same pre-specified blocks across exchanges. The durations for these contracts should be complementary and not overlapping to aid DISCOMs meet supply through a portfolio of such contracts.
• Discontinuation of All High Price TAM and DAM contracts. Instead, the ceiling price for all contracts can be pre-specified to change dynamically across blocks and months. This way, the ceiling in some blocks maybe lower than Rs.10/unit and higher in other blocks but the overall ceiling is still Rs.10/unit.  
• Discontinuation of ADSS contracts on power exchanges as the flexibility in these contracts  reduces trades on daily, weekly and monthly standard contacts and can result in price shopping by sellers. To ensure that DEEP contracts are complementary, the competitive bidding guidelines can be amended such that DEEP contracts are for durations > 3 months but less than 1 year. As liquidity in exchanges increases all short-term trades should be through standard contracts on power exchanges.