A web portal- MERIT (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency) was recently launched by the Ministry of Power.

• The portal has been developed by Ministry of Power in association with POSOCO and Central Electricity Authority.
• The portal displays extensive array of information regarding the merit order of Electricity procured by State(s) such as daily state-wise marginal variable costs of all generators, daily source-wise power purchases of respective states/UTs with source-wise fixed and variable costs, energy volumes and purchase prices.
• The web-portal also give information regarding reasons for deviation from merit order such as must run conditions, transmission constraints etc.

Advantages of “Merit” Portal are as follows:

• Empowerment of the Consumer and participative governance.
• Transparent information dissemination pertaining to marginal variable cost and source wise purchase of electricity.
• Promotes economy and efficiency in operations.
• Demystifies the utility portfolio and its complexity.
• Optimization of the power procurement costs.
• Facilitates renewable integration and handling of the variability and uncertainty of renewables.
• Indication of supply side reliability, adequacy, and cost of power procurement.

Source:PIB