Electricity buyers may see lower costs as the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) reviews transaction fees charged by power trading exchanges. The review is taking place alongside the regulator’s push to introduce market coupling, a long-awaited reform aimed at improving efficiency in price discovery, increasing liquidity and bringing uniformity to electricity prices across trading platforms.

Over time, the combined effect of these changes is expected to reduce the overall cost of power procurement. Market coupling was approved by CERC in July this year after more than two years of discussions and is proposed to be rolled out in stages, starting with the day-ahead market (DAM) from January 2026. Once implemented, buy and sell bids from all power exchanges will be pooled together to determine a single market-clearing price, replacing the existing system under which prices differ across exchanges. An official said that the regulator has finalised a staff paper titled ‘Review of Transaction Fee charged by the Power Exchanges’ in December 2025. According to the official, who spoke to PTI on the condition of anonymity, CERC is assessing whether the current transaction fee cap of 2 paise per unit is still appropriate at a time when traded volumes have risen sharply and the market is transitioning towards a unified price discovery mechanism.

Among the options being discussed is a fixed transaction fee of 1.5 paise per unit for most trading segments. Under the present framework, power exchanges generally charge close to the permitted ceiling. Another proposal under consideration is a lower fee of 1.25 paise per unit for term-ahead market (TAM) contracts, reflecting their longer tenure and comparatively lower operational intensity. India’s exchange-based power market has seen rapid growth over the past decade.

Electricity traded through exchanges has increased more than 16 times since 2009-10, with total traded volumes exceeding 120 billion units in 2023-24. While the day-ahead market previously accounted for nearly all exchange-based trading, real-time, intra-day and term-ahead segments now make up an increasing share. Industry experts believe market coupling will help reduce price disparities across exchanges, improve the use of generation capacity and allow buyers to access power at more efficient rates.

“Since bids are aggregated across all exchanges, prices are expected to converge and soften to some extent, benefiting distribution companies and large consumers and eventually end-users,” one expert told PTI.At present, Indian Energy Exchange dominates the segment, accounting for nearly 90% of exchange-based power trading volumes, with Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange Ltd (HPX) accounting for the rest.