Telangana Discoms Achieve Cost Savings of INR 700 Crore Through Data-driven Power Exchange Strategy

India’s electricity procurement landscape is undergoing a structural shift as state utilities are increasingly integrating power exchanges into their routine power supply planning. Once used as a short-term solution to manage shortages or unforeseen demand, power exchanges are now emerging as a deliberate source of power procurement backed by data-led procurement strategies, driven by price signals, generation economics and time-of-day demand patterns.

This transition is positively influencing three critical aspects of Discoms’ decision-making: the timing of power procurement, the mechanism for scheduling state-allocated generation, and the optimisation of supply-demand balances on a daily basis. Recent power procurement trends adopted by Telangana Discoms illustrate how market-based dynamic procurement is becoming embedded into an operational strategy.

Driven by improved supply liquidity from renewable sources including solar, hydro, wind along with steady coal generation, during the first eleven months of the current financial year there has been a substantial drop in DAM and RTM prices. On the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the average daily Market Clearing Price in the DAM during the April 2025 to February 2026 was INR 3.83 per unit, lower by 14.4 percent compared to the same period last year, while the RTM price averaged INR 3.58 per unit during the same period, declining by 16.5 percent year-on-year. These prices presented an opportunity for Discoms and Commercial and Industrial consumers to meet their demand at a competitive price and to replace their costlier power by procuring through exchanges.

Telangana Discoms capitalised very efficiently on these competitive prices and optimised its power procurement costs through a clear, data-driven strategy. In the first eleven months of FY2026, the state procured around 13 billion units (BU) from power exchanges at an average procurement price of INR 3.04 per unit. This power optimisation enabled the state to save INR 700 crore in the first eleven months of the financial year 2026.

Telangana’s approach captures a broader national shift: power exchanges are no longer emergency buffers but integral tools for cost optimisation, dynamic scheduling and real-time deviation. As renewable capacity expands and time-based price differentials sharpen, states that respond to these signals are seeing tangible reductions in average power procurement costs.