Discussion paper on Retail competition in power distribution

The discussion paper analyses the implications of the separation of 'carriage' (the wires business) and 'content' (the supply business) in retail electricity distribution in India

Market based reforms have been central to the economic reform agenda for the past few decades across the world. In the power sector too, market-based reforms have been promoted since the 1990s to improve the performance of the power sector. However the experience of the reforms has been more mixed than had been initially anticipated, with considerable differences in the extent of adoption of reforms, with many countries having had incomplete adoption, and even policy reversals.

This paper explores the global experience of introducing competition in electricity supply. Taking this into account and India's own experience of power sector reforms, it analyses the implications of the separation of 'carriage' (the wires business) and 'content' (the supply business) in retail electricity distribution in India.