New Delhi, February 2026 | In a landmark move towards democratising electricity markets, Delhi has formally launched Peer-to-Peer (P2P) solar power trading, enabling rooftop solar owners to directly sell excess electricity to other consumers within and across distribution company (DISCOM) networks.
The initiative aligns with the India Energy Stack (IES) framework introduced by the Ministry of Power, which seeks to build a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the energy sector—similar to how UPI transformed digital payments.
From Net Metering to Open Energy Markets
Until now, rooftop solar owners in Delhi primarily relied on net metering—exporting surplus power back to their DISCOM at regulated tariffs. With P2P trading, prosumers (producer-consumers) can now:
- Sell surplus solar electricity to another consumer of their choice
- Negotiate price within regulatory caps
- Track trades transparently through a digital ledger
- Receive settlement independent of DISCOM billing
The model shifts consumers from being passive recipients of electricity to active participants in the energy economy.
How the System Works
Under the IES-enabled architecture, the P2P system follows a structured digital flow:
- Trade Placement: A seller (solar rooftop owner) lists available surplus energy via an Energy Trading platform like YoGrid. A buyer agrees to purchase at a mutually accepted price. The signed contract is recorded on a public ledger.
- Energy Delivery: The seller injects electricity into the grid at the scheduled time. The buyer draws electricity from the grid. Grid security checks remain fully under DISCOM control.
- Meter Data Reconciliation: Actual injected and consumed units are recorded and updated onto the ledger using signed smart meter data.
- Financial Settlement: Payment between buyer and seller is facilitated via the trading platform (prepaid escrow or postpaid model).
- DISCOM Billing: DISCOMs bill wheeling and grid usage charges separately, ensuring grid cost recovery.
This structure is consistent with the inter-DISCOM P2P trading workflow documented under the India Energy Stack framework.
Built on Digital Public Infrastructure
The rollout leverages core IES building blocks:
- Identity & Addressability: Unique digital IDs for consumers, assets, and DISCOMs
- Registries: Machine-verifiable directories of authorised participants
- Energy Credentials: Verifiable digital proofs for eligibility and grid connection
- Policy-as-Code: Automated enforcement of regulatory limits
- Federated Architecture: Data remains with DISCOMs; IES defines exchange rules
As outlined in the IES Strategy Document, the objective is to create a “trust bridge” across utilities, consumers, platforms, and markets. Unlike a centralised database, IES operates as a federated protocol layer that standardises how entities interact without replacing existing DISCOM systems.
Who Can Participate and at What Costs ?
Any consumer with a smart meter and discom‑verified onboarding on an approved P2P platform can join as a buyer, while only prosumers with rooftop solar and sanctioned load below 200 kW are eligible to sell under the current pilot design.
DERC has cleared a transaction charge of ₹0.42 per kWh (including GST), shared equally between buyer and seller (₹0.21 each), to pay for development and operation of the digital P2P platform; these charges are treated as non‑tariff income in discom accounts.
In a major relief to participants, the Commission has refused requests to levy additional wheeling or open‑access network charges for P2P trades within Delhi or for the Delhi portion of inter‑state trades, arguing that network costs are already recovered through existing tariffs.
For the Uttar Pradesh segment of inter‑state trades, any wheeling or related charges will be governed by the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’s framework, beyond DERC’s jurisdiction.
What This Means for Delhi Consumers
For Rooftop Solar Owners
- Better monetisation of surplus power
- Market-driven pricing instead of fixed feed-in tariffs
- Transparent trade and settlement visibility
For Buyers (Homes, Shops, SMEs)
- Participation in community-based energy exchange
- Option to procure local green electricity
- Potentially lower energy costs
Regulatory Relaxations and Safeguards
DERC has temporarily relaxed its earlier cap that limited P2P trades to 20 percent capacity utilisation factor for solar plants, allowing prosumers to trade their full available rooftop solar generation during the pilot.
To lower entry risk, penalties for under‑injection (short supply by sellers) and under‑drawal (buyers not consuming committed energy) have been waived for the pilot, though the Commission has signalled that a robust penalty mechanism must be designed post‑pilot to prevent misuse.
All billing and settlement for P2P trades must run through the existing discom billing systems, with P2P adjustments processed before conventional supply charges, to ensure secure reconciliation and consumer protection. Example – A housing society with surplus mid‑day rooftop solar can sell excess units to a nearby commercial consumer through a P2P Energy Trading Platform like YoGrid, with both seeing the transaction reflected as credits/debits in their next bill rather than separate invoices.
Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) treatment will follow existing DERC P2P guidelines, enabling discoms to count eligible P2P solar transactions towards their clean‑energy targets where applicable.
The Bigger Picture
The Delhi pilot is a flagship use case of the India Energy Stack, a national digital public infrastructure initiative that aims to do for electricity what UPI did for digital payments—standardised, interoperable, and consumer‑centric digital layers across the power system.
The Ministry of Power has described IES as an enabler of “energy agency,” where consumers can choose, participate, and earn in a digital power economy. Delhi’s adoption marks a practical implementation of this vision, demonstrating that distributed renewable energy, digital trust infrastructure, and real-time settlement can coexist within regulated grid systems. Delhi’s launch is not just a pilot—it signals the beginning of a structured, protocol-driven energy marketplace in India.
Along with TPDDL, BRPL and PVVNL in Phase I, and plans to involve more discoms such as BYPL and Haryana’s DHBVN in subsequent phases, the project is positioned as a blueprint for scaling decentralised, blockchain‑enabled renewable energy marketplaces across India. For now, Delhi consumers stand at the forefront of a new era—where electricity is not just consumed, but traded.
The pilot will also be showcased at an upcoming AI and digital innovation summit in Delhi, underscoring how smart meters, digital ledgers and automated settlement can turn ordinary consumers into active participants in the green energy transition.
As India moves toward 500 GW of renewable capacity and accelerated electrification, distributed trading platforms backed by India Energy Stack could reshape the retail electricity landscape much like UPI reshaped payments.