The Ministry of Power published the draft guidelines for short-term sale of power through tariff-based bidding process on the 6th of March 2019 for public consultation.Revision of the short-term bidding guidelines is a much needed exercise and we welcome the Ministry of Power’s proposal to permit open access consumers to participate in DEEP.

In order to ensure specific requirements are catered to and to ensure less information asymmetry, we propose an e-bidding system where both buyers and sellers can initiate events and both parties can participate in each other’s events. In addition, we also suggest that:

• A model short-term Power Purchase and/or Power Supply Agreement is published after due public consultation.
• Information on bids and events be published on the e-bidding portal continuously in an easily accessible format.
• There is clarity in the guidelines to prevent unnecessary legal disputes and implementation issues
• The clauses on regulatory approval for short-term power procurement by DISCOMs in the existing guidelines be retained.
• Guidelines should specify that regulators should mandate all DISCOMs to procure short-term power only through the e-bidding platform or power exchanges to encourage transparent and competitive bidding practices.
• The guidelines should also specify mechanisms for market monitoring.