Seasonal effect and electricity trading market: An emerging nation experience

Abstract

Trade liberalization in the electricity market has become widespread over the past three decades. Emergent electricity markets are still exposed to challenges such as the seasonal effect on demand and respective trade volume; lack of optimum financial instruments; less effective practices to manage operations and risks in the extremely price volatile market. In this backdrop, the paper aims to examine the condition of the dominant nation for electricity consumption, India, where for the establishment of advance seasonal hedging practices hybrid seasonal options can be introduced and the corresponding cost of hedging has been estimated. The entire study is evaluated in the electricity trading market in the mid of 2013?2018. The analysis not only helps in estimating the cost of hedging for electricity spot exposures but also suggests optimum time frame to traders, policymakers and trading institutions where through this application risks can be well managed and costs can be controlled. The outcome of the paper depicts the seasonal variation impact on hedging cost and also portrays optimum days for trading to hedge against price risks. This study also provides a background for policymakers to amend policies where gaps are persistent.