New Delhi, June 18 -- India's Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has unveiled a draft amendment to electricity trading rules aimed at integrating Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs) into the power markets, as part of its draft Power Market Regulations, 2025.

Under this novel framework, large industrial consumers can enter into over-the-counter (OTC) contracts with renewable energy producers to "virtually" purchase electricity at a predetermined rate-without physically taking delivery of power.

The VPPA agreement mechanism works by having generators sell the electricity in the open market, while consumers pay or receive the financial difference between the fixed VPPA price and actual market prices.

This innovative to...