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Towards a competitive market for electricity and consumer choice in the Indian power sector

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  • Singh, Anoop

Abstract

The initial phase of reforms in the Indian power sector was primarily aimed at bringing regulatory reforms and unbundling of the vertically integrated State Electricity Boards (SEBs). Enactment of the Electricity Act 2003 led to deepening of the reform process by dismantling this monopoly in the power sector. Primary issues emerging on account of transition from a single-buyer model to a multi-buyer multi-seller model include, among others, policy and regulatory initiatives related to open access, power exchanges, and transmission allocation and its pricing. The paper provides an overview of the status of competition in various segments of the power sector. It also reviews the phased program for open access outlined by various State Electricity Regulatory Commissions, including their status and impact on competition. The paper highlights a number of residual issues for the wholesale and retail competition, and also discusses the approach to address the same. These include liberalization of fuel markets, market monitoring, unbundling of retail tariffs, universal service obligation, supplier of last resort and demand response.

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  • Singh, Anoop, 2010. "Towards a competitive market for electricity and consumer choice in the Indian power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4196-4208, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:8:p:4196-4208
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    3. Sarangi, Gopal K. & Mishra, Arabinda & Chang, Youngho & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2019. "Indian electricity sector, energy security and sustainability: An empirical assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Ram Sahi & Najib Khan, 2011. "Evolution of India’s Electricity Market Deregulation and Private Sector Investment in the Power Sector(withdrawn for review)," Carleton Economic Papers 11-08, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    5. Kumar, T. Bharath & Singh, Anoop, 2021. "Ancillary services in the Indian power sector – A look at recent developments and prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. Sugathan, Anish & Malghan, Deepak & Chandrashekar, S. & Sinha, Deepak K., 2019. "Downstream electric utility restructuring and upstream generation efficiency: Productivity dynamics of Indian coal and gas based electricity generators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 832-852.
    7. Sharma, Naveen Kumar & Tiwari, Prashant Kumar & Sood, Yog Raj, 2013. "A comprehensive analysis of strategies, policies and development of hydropower in India: Special emphasis on small hydro power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 460-470.
    8. Gopal K. Sarangi & Arabinda Mishra, 2013. "Competitive Mechanisms in Indian Power Sector," Journal of Infrastructure Development, India Development Foundation, vol. 5(2), pages 103-120, December.
    9. Sahoo, Sarat Kumar & Varma, Payal & Lall, Krishna Prabhakar & Talwar, Chanpreet Kaur, 2016. "Energy efficiency in India: Achievements, challenges and legality," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 495-503.
    10. Liu, Yang & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2024. "Towards a sustainable electricity industry in China: An appraisal of the efficacy of environmental policies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Mathur, Kritika & Sinha, Pankaj, 2014. "Dynamics of Day-Ahead Trading of Electricity in India," MPRA Paper 59934, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Kaur, Charanjit & Siddiki, Jalal & Singh, Prakash, 2024. "The asymmetric impact of input prices, the Russia-Ukraine war and domestic policy changes on wholesale electricity prices in India: A quantile autoregressive distributed lag analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    13. Amenta, Carlo & Aronica, Martina & Stagnaro, Carlo, 2022. "Is more competition better? Retail electricity prices and switching rates in the European Union," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Ben Christopher, S.J. & Carolin Mabel, M., 2020. "A bio-inspired approach for probabilistic energy management of micro-grid incorporating uncertainty in statistical cost estimation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    15. Siddiqui, Md Zakaria & de Maere d'Aertrycke, Gauthier & Smeers, Yves, 2012. "Demand response in Indian electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 207-216.
    16. Singh,Anoop & Jamasb,Tooraj & Nepal,Rabindra & Toman,Michael A., 2015. "Cross-border electricity cooperation in South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7328, The World Bank.
    17. Bhatt, Brijesh & Singh, Anoop, 2020. "Stakeholders’ role in distribution loss reduction technology adoption in the Indian electricity sector: An actor-oriented approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    18. Yadav, Vinod Kumar & Padhy, N.P. & Gupta, H.O., 2011. "Performance evaluation and improvement directions for an Indian electric utility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7112-7120.
    19. Mukherjee, Shilpi & Dhingra, Tarun & Sengupta, Anirban, 2017. "Status of Electricity Act, 2003: A systematic review of literature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 237-248.

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