But Himachal Pradesh is not the only beneficiary. West Bengal under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is expected to sell around 400 million units of surplus power between June 10 and December 31, raking in some Rs 150-200 crore. The tender, floated through PTC, was opened on June 5. The West Bengal government has surplus power for nearly 7 hours at night which it sells to the highest bidder.

“Earlier, it was Goa which wiped off its revenue deficit by selling power to the tune of Rs 110 crore. The new examples now are Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh... We have built up capacity of 10,500 MW through 27 long-term power purchase agreements with states,” Tantra Narayan Thakur, CMD of PTC, told The Indian Express.

These states are followed by Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Delhi (only NDMC), Tamil Nadu and even Kerala. Tripura trades 25-30 MW of power — it earned Rs 71 crore last fiscal; Chhattisgarh generates surplus on day-to-day basis — it sold more than 100 MW at Rs 7.40 per unit.

But New Delhi’s NDMC earns full points for innovative trading. It has traded 50-150 MW on day-to-day basis and pockets some Rs 55 crore by supplying power only at night. Though saddled with naptha-fired Kayal and Kochi power plants, Kerala sells power between 100-250 MW to minimize operational losses as naptha is costly. Tamil Nadu sells some 100 MW by collecting surplus during night in the monsoon months and on weekends.