🤜🤛 IEX vs CERC: Power Play over Market Coupling

Imagine an online market where nearly every power trade in India happens—now, regulators want to link all exchanges and create a single price, making it much harder for any one player to dominate. That’s the plan behind market coupling, set to start with the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) in January 2026. IEX

, which holds almost 99.7% share of India’s power trading volume, has challenged the CERC order at the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, calling the move arbitrary and unfair. The exchange says market coupling will dilute its competitive edge—redistributing trading volumes among the three exchanges (IEX, PXIL, HPX) with no clear benefit to consumers. It also argues that CERC’s “shadow pilot” showed only marginal gains and that current systems already deliver competition, uniform prices, and rare instances of grid congestion. The impact is no small deal- IEX’s stock price tanked 30% after the July directive and remains far below historic levels. For now, industry players, investors, and regulators are waiting for the tribunal’s verdict, which could reshape the power trading landscape—either locking in IEX’s dominance or ushering in a new era of direct competition, transparency, and more balanced pricing. 📌 Learning Takeaway: IEX’s appeal claims market coupling will harm competition, slash its near-monopoly, and fundamentally change India’s electricity trading landscape.