New Delhi, February 12 Delhi's power consumers will now be able to sell and buy electricity generated through solar panels among themselves, as the city regulator, DERC, has given its approval for peer-to-peer (P2P) trading in a six-month pilot project, officials said on Thursday.
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) gave the go-ahead for P2P power trading, while disposing of petitions filed by the city distribution companies, BRPL and TPDDL, on Wednesday, they said.
The power regulator allowed intra-distribution company, intra-state, and inter-state (Delhi-UP) P2P power trading with certain conditions for a period of six months.
The key conditions imposed included a transaction charge of Rs 0.42/KWh to be shared equally among buyers and sellers of electricity. However, it did not allow the wheeling and network charges demanded by the distribution companies, and also rejected open access charges within Delhi, officials said.
"Peer-to-Peer energy trading changes the way electricity is produced, bought, and sold by giving consumers a more active role in the power sector," said a BSES spokesperson.
"At BSES, we are proud to be part of this important pilot, which reflects our commitment to supporting forward-looking regulations and technology that benefit consumers and promote sustainability," the spokesperson added.
The city distribution companies, including BRPL, BYPL, and TPDDL, will participate in the P2P power trading pilot and showcase the initiative during the upcoming AI Summit to be held in Delhi, officials said.
Under the pilot, the distribution companies will support trading platforms, onboard eligible consumers and "prosumers" (consumers who produce power), ensure smart meter and net metre readiness, and integrate approved technology trading platforms under the India Energy Stack (IES) framework, they said.
Further, the distribution companies' activities will include the implementation of a secure, digitally-based onboarding through verified credentials (VC) authentication, enabling billing adjustments for traded electricity units for both consumers and "prosumers," officials said.
Any consumer with a smart meter can join the pilot, after discom verification and onboarding through an approved trading platform. The process will involve the registration of consumers and "prosumers" on the approved P2P platform, as well as discom authentication.
The consumer will be able to select offers and place purchase requests through digital platforms. The traded electricity will be recorded through a digital-ledger-based settlement and will be reflected in the monthly bills.
Only "prosumers" with rooftop solar panels and consumers with a load less than 200 KW are eligible to participate in the pilot, officials said.
The price of energy traded under the P2P system is determined through mutually agreed prices between the consumer and the prosumer on the trading platform, within the regulatory framework of the pilot. Besides the P2P trade platform changes, all other charges are waived off by the DERC, officials said.
Consumers will continue to receive their regular discom electricity bills, with P2P trade-related adjustments reflected transparently.
The P2P trading allowed between Delhi and UP is among the first structured inter-state peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading pilots being implemented in India under a national framework led by the India Energy Stack (IES), with active participation from distribution companies.
In this initial pilot phase, BRPL, TPDDL, and Paschimanchal Vidhyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) are the three participating distribution companies. Similar models exist internationally, especially in parts of Europe and Australia, where local energy markets allow consumers to trade renewable energy under regulatory supervision.
The key benefits of P2P power trading include greater access to green energy, potential savings for consumers, additional income opportunities for prosumers, and transparent digital accounting, officials added.