The Hindu Business Line : CERC concerned over high price of power

MUMBAI: Power was being traded at high prices with the price in short-term trading rising to as high as Rs 9 per unit, a top government official said on Wednesday.

“Such a high price is unaffordable,'' Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) Chairman, Mr Pramod Deo, said at the India Energy Conclave organised by the CII here.

The CERC Chairman said that one of the suggestions received by the regulator was to put a ceiling on the price at which power can be traded.

However, it may not be possible to impose such a ceiling or cap, Mr Deo indicated.

The regulator will be dealing with this issue in an order which is expected in a week's time, he said.

A CII-KPMG report `India Energy Outlook', released at the conclave, said that the average price of power traded during the last fiscal was Rs 4.50 per unit.

However, short-term power prices at times had flared up to Rs 8 per unit in the last year as well.

The trading market got a boost with the CERC allowing setting up of power exchanges.

The MCX-promoted India Energy Exchange started its operations in June while the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange-led Power Exchange India in October.

According to the report, India Energy Exchange received total purchase bids for over 2,000-million units since its inception on June 27, while Power Exchange India received purchase bids of 63-million units on its first day of operations on October 23.

However, the volume of power trading on power exchanges is still very small and a large chunk of power is traded through bilateral contracts. - PTI

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