Country’s top commodity exchanges, Multi commodity Exchange (MCX) has launched the future trading in Electricity, which will be traded in weekly as well as monthly contract.

Market regulator Forward Markets Commission has approved MCX to launch weekly and monthly electricity contracts. The exchange will launch eight weekly contracts and four monthly contracts. The first trade was executed in the March monthly contract at Rs 7,300 a MWh. The company has been given the power contracts for months of March and April. The contract can be traded between 10:00 am and 11:55 pm on week days, while on Saturday trading will continue till 02:00 pm.

Speaking on this, Joseph Massey (CEO and MD, MCX) said, “The launch of electricity futures will smoothen the price curve in the medium to long run that will help the market participants to facilitate price discovery and take informed decision looking at the futures prices.”

It may be here recalled that electricity is traded in futures market in the US, the UK, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, France and Germany.

Experts feel that with the help of the future trading, power producers can sell their perceived surplus in futures and consumers, who predict higher consumption and a price rise, can buy power on the same platform.