Lead to Overall Reduction of Cost of Procurement ; Significantly Benefiting Consumers

Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy launched DEEP (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) e-Bidding & e-Reverse Auction portal for procurement of short term power by DISCOMs.

The web portal is accessible to all the stakeholders in the Power Sector through www.mstcecommerce.com. The link is also available in the websites of Ministry of Power www.powermin.nic.in and PFC Consulting www.pfcclindia.com

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Goyal said that the web portal will ensure seamless flow of power from seller to buyer. It will be a very strong weapon to curb illegal transactions and will help in price reduction through competition. Taking the web portal to next level, the Minister added that all states should put their power purchase data on the portal within one month. He also directed that first five states to put data within 1 week will be rewarded. The Minister also witnessed the signing of Power for All agreement by the states of Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh.

The short term procurement could be for a period of more than one day up to one year. Currently out of total generation of around 91671.33MUs, above 10% (9215.24MUs) is transacted through short term through bilateral and through power exchanges etc.

The Guidelines for short term procurement of power has already been notified by Ministry of Power, Government of India w.e.f. April 1, 2016, making it mandatory for all the Procurer(s) to procure short term power by using this e-Bidding portal. Power Procurement from Power Exchange shall be excluded from the scope of these guidelines This would introduce uniformity and transparency in power procurement by the DISCOMs and at the same time promote competition in electricity sector. The scope of this portal shall be further expanded soon to cover medium term and long term procurement of power.

This e-Reverse auction process for competitive procurement is expected to result in overall reduction of cost of procurement of power thereby significantly benefiting the ultimate consumers. This will also provide a common e-bidding platform with e-Reverse Auction facility, provide nation-wide power procurement to a wider network including the stakeholders in power sector, to bring uniformity in the process of power procurement.

The web portal is a common e-bidding platform with e-Reverse Auction facility. The advantages include dissemination of information on nationwide power procurement to a wider network including the stakeholders in power sector; Uniformity in the process of power procurement and enabling Distribution Licensees to procure power in a short time. Bidders have the option to bid multiple bids from separate logins either from same or different sources. Bidders also can quote their best prices and need not match or bid lower price against the prevailing lowest Bidder. The portal builds confidence through transparency and efficiency in the procurement of power.

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