Tamil Nadu had highest number of open access consumers on power exchanges

Tamil Nadu leads in open access electricity consumers, buying power directly from private generators through power exchanges.

Tamil Nadu had the highest number of open access consumers buying electricity from the power exchanges.

The concept of open access allows large users of power to buy power directly from private generators rather than depending on the State utility.

According to a recent report on the short-term power market in India released by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), Open Access consumers on Power Exchanges included Industrial & Bulk Consumers and Captive Power Plants.

As on 31 March 2024, there were 5,244 open Access consumers at Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX) and these consumers were mostly located in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Tamil Nadu had a total of 1,247 open access consumers on IEX, it said.

The report said as on March 31, 2024, there were 825 open access consumers at the Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL). These consumers were mostly located in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat , Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, it added. Tamil Nadu had 189 open access consumers on PXIL.

In case of Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX), there were 265 open access consumers as on March 31, 2024. These consumers were mostly located in Uttar Pradesh (67), Tamil Nadu (50), Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the report said.

Overall, the weighted average price of electricity bought by open access consumers at IEX was ₹3.76/kWh, which was lower as compared to the weighted average price of the total electricity transacted through IEX (₹5.10/kWh), the report said.