What is the Electric Retail?

The electricity retail market is a part of the electricity market that allows people to act as intermediaries and buy the electricity needed by consumers and provide it to small and minor consumers. This market increases the discretion of customers and allows them to choose their electricity supplier. Of course, this market will also expand the sellers' discretion. Electricity trading and retailing is a well-known and practiced method all over the world. In our country, the energy exchange, followed by the retail market and the bilateral electricity trading market, in accordance with legal requirements such as the general policies of Article 44 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, paragraph 5 of Article 7, paragraph 7 and Article 133 of The fifth law of development, paragraph 11 The plans for the electricity and energy sector of the Ministry of Energy emerged in the tenth government.

Benefits of buying electricity by a retailer

• Role playing as a financier for power plants and consumers
• Possibility of bulk purchases from the power plant by the retailer
• Possibility of diversification in payment methods
• Retailers are professional and experienced buyers.
• Ability to provide electricity to consumers at the best possible price
• Flexibility in delivering electricity purchased by retailers
• Have enough experience in time, amount and type of energy purchase
• Possibility to cover the risk caused by the reduction or non-consumption of subscribers
• Elimination of risks related to direct presence on the stock exchange

Risk management

In the electricity retail market, it is impossible to predict the exact amount of consumption and production, for example, the consumption of consumers in the next few days cannot be accurately predicted, or fuel shortages and technical problems of the power plants cannot be predicted therefore, retailers may sometimes buy less than consumers need. This (i.e. higher demand than supply) may lead to severe price volatility. In order to overcome the possible problems caused by this issue which is called "Risk Management", contracts are conducted between retailers and wholesalers. The method of implementation of these contracts varies according to regional customs and the structure of the electricity market.

Duties and responsibilities

• Performing all customer services, including: selling the branch, applying the branch changes, following up the technical affairs of the distribution company.
• Customer demand forecasting
• Reading, preparing bills
• Protection of customers' rights against the discontinuity and quality level expected by the distribution company
• Encouraging customers to participate in load management programs
• Identify unauthorized branches and legal forces against them in coordination with the distribution company
• Periodic testing of meters
• Coordination to connect and disconnect the branch
• A retail company is an intermediary that has the task of buying electricity from the energy exchange, the wholesale electricity market and distributed generations and selling them to subscribers who do not have a license to buy their electricity directly.
• Electric retailers in a competitive environment with other retailers and by risk management in sales and providing ancillary services in the electricity market environment and subscribers try to attract more customers and increase their sustainable profits.
• Retailers offer long-term contracts (1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 months) and at a price that is announced by the electric market regulator.
• The retailer can repurchase or resell on the energy exchange.
• Retailers can get some of their power from distributed generation plants.
• GNEC, as a leading consulting engineering company in the field of electricity market, has succeeded in obtaining the retail market license of the electricity market from the Ministry of Energy and in recent years has conducted several bilateral retail contracts with subscribers with capacity more than 5 MW. Some of these subscribers include copper industries, steel industries, cement industries and various factories in industrial estates.

Due to the increasing the cost of energy carriers for industries and the existence of competitive environment in the electricity market and energy exchanges, the importance and effectiveness of retail companies is even more vital. Therefore, GNEC announce its readiness to provide the following services to electricity consumers with a capacity of more than 5 MW:

• Electricity retail market consulting
• Power plant market consulting
• Energy Exchange
• Retail electricity through a bilateral contract
• Industrial energy audit