The Union Ministry of Power is currently calling for the Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism – a radical shift from the current decentralized, voluntary pool-based electricity market.

• The MBED mechanism envisages a centralized scheduling for dispatching the entire yearly consumption of electricity of around 1,400 billion units.
• It proposes a centralized scheduling of power dispatches both at the inter-state and intra-state levels.
• This will interfere in the autonomy of states in managing their electricity sector, including their own generating stations.