IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021 - 29

the platforms for the electricity sector could be crucial
as the electricity forms the backbone of the other
economic activities. The platforms in the electricity
sector do not just bring the suppliers and consumers
together but are also responsible for coordination and
control to benefit the suppliers and customers [39].
Sharing Economy for the Electricity
Sector: Status and Challenges
In this section, various components delineated
earlier are discussed concerning the electricity sector
in India.
* Suppliers/Service Providers: Sharing economy
requires the presence of a large number of producers
who are willing to sell unused power. Currently,
large power producers sell their excess
power (power not covered in power purchase
agreements) in the power trading platforms.
Such producers sell power in large quantities
which are required by only large industrial consumers.
There is a need for a large number of
distributed generation facilities that will enable
suppliers who are willing to sell power in smaller
quantities which can be bought and utilized by
smaller consumers.
* Infrastructure: The development of sharing economy
to develop requires a considerable amount
of investment for improvement in existing infrastructure,
which is already facing numerous
challenges. Investment is needed for improving
metering infrastructure, supporting the integration
of distributed generation and two-way
power flow [37], [50].
* Customers: There is a massive demand for
electricity by Indian consumers and is likely to
increase in the coming years [36]. According
to a study [22], 45 million households are still
not electrified in 2017. Indian consumers still
face unreliable power supply [51]. Out of the
locations, covering states such as Goa, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra,
and Uttar Pradesh studied only 69% of
megacities, 48% of other cities, and 10% of rural
areas receive entire 6 h of evening electricity
supply. Rural households facing poor or no
collection spend Indian rupees INR 119/month1
for kerosene, paraffin candles, and others and
1At this time, INR 65 equals one USD.
industrial consumers incur revenue losses starting
INR 1000/month [22].
* Platform: The power exchanges in India have
the participation of 3300 plus industries, 50 plus
distribution companies (DISCOMs), and 350 plus
generators [44]. The small-scale producers and
consumers are not part of this. There are market-driven
platforms that facilitate the transfer
between them.
* Pricing Structure: The tariff structure is determined
by the state and is to be followed by the
DISCOMs and the customers. The customers do
not have any say. Although customers are willing
to pay a higher price for reliable electricity, there
are no alternatives [21], [25].
* Public Policy/Regulations: The electricity sector is
predominantly regulated by the government, including
pricing, production, and distribution. The
industry is semi-liberalized favoring the larger
players. The draft of Electricity (Amendment) Bill,
2018, seeks to modify the existing setup enabling
direct supply to the small consumers through
competitive licensing. The distribution licensee
will maintain the distribution network and manage
different suppliers.
There are few attempts around the world to introduce
the components of the sharing economy in the
power sector. For instance, the presence of smallscale
distributed generation2 producers has facilitated
Vandebron, The Netherlands, startup to procure
directly from independent wind turbine-based producers.
The customers can also choose the producers
from the list provided by the company [10]. Good
Energy3 introduced peer-to-peer renewable energy
marketplace in the United Kingdom named Selectricity.
This platform acts like a microenergy market
that enables customers to transact with local electricity
generators in half-hour periods. The data from the
" customers " smart meters are utilized to match the
demand with the supply optimally.
There are challenges implementing the sharing
economy ecosystem for the electricity sector in India
and are presented below.
Suppliers: The adoption of distributed generation
is slower in India. The extant ones are installed
by consumers who are paying higher tariffs. Also,
the installation cost is high, resulting in a longer
2This involves producing electricity nearby the users using small scale technologies.
3www.goodenergy.co.uk.
June 2021
29
http://www.goodenergy.co.uk
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021

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