Indian summers are notoriously hot. For the most part, it’s a problem. But it can also be an opportunity.

Here’s how: The sun is blazing, kids are home from school, and every household is running its fans and ACs at full tilt. Now, imagine if on your rooftop, solar panels sit quietly working to generate more electricity than your family needs at that time. At the same time, your neighbour’s home is running low on power as everyone cranks up their AC.

In the old days, your excess solar power would be sent back to the grid, earning you a modest credit. What if, instead of letting that extra solar energy go to waste (or selling it back to the grid for a pittance), you could sell it directly to your neighbour at a mutually agreed-upon price?

That, in a nutshell, is the promise of peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, a new way of thinking about electricity that puts power (literally and figuratively) into the hands of everyday Indians.

What Is P2P Energy Trading?

TL;DR: Think of P2P energy trading as the digital-age cousin of your local sabzi mandi. Instead of vegetables, people buy and sell electricity.

P2P energy trading is a digital marketplace for electricity, where ordinary people, households, small businesses, even communities, can buy and sell energy directly to each other, just like you might buy vegetables from a local mandi.

Instead of being passive consumers, you become an “energy prosumer”: someone who both produces and consumes electricity.

Traditional electricity distribution models were often a one-way affair. Big power plants generated electricity from non-renewable sources, which flowed through the grid to your home. If you have rooftop solar, any extra power you generate is sent back to the grid, and you get compensated at a fixed rate (often lower than what you pay to buy power).

But with P2P trading, you can negotiate the price of your surplus electricity with other consumers nearby. Maybe your neighbour is willing to pay a bit more for clean, local solar power than the grid does. Suddenly, your rooftop becomes a source of income, not just savings. This creates a local energy market: dynamic, flexible, and fair.

How Does It Work?

If P2P energy trading is the digital-age sabzi mandi, then the tech behind it is the invisible infrastructure (the weighing scales, the receipts, the ledgers, and the market rules, etc.) all rolled into one, but supercharged for the 21st century.

At its core, P2P energy trading platforms in India are built on a foundation of smart meters, open digital protocols, and blockchain technology, all woven together to create a seamless, secure, and scalable marketplace.

Smart meters are the silent workhorses here. Installed in every participating home or business, these devices measure electricity generated and consumed in real time, sending this data to the platform every few minutes. This granularity means the system always knows exactly how much energy is available for trade and how much is being used, down to the last unit.

The data from these meters flows into the digital platform, where it’s matched with buy and sell offers, think of it as a live energy bazaar, where your surplus solar power is listed alongside your neighbour’s demand, and the platform’s algorithms handle the matchmaking.

But what really makes this system tick is the use of open protocols like the Beckn Protocol and the Unified Energy Interface (UEI). These standards ensure that different platforms, devices, and utilities can talk to each other, meaning no more closed silos or vendor lock-in.

Whether you’re using Kazam’s Buzz app or another service, the underlying tech ensures your smart meter, EV charger, or battery can plug into the marketplace with minimal fuss. Every transaction is recorded on a blockchain. This digital ledger is tamper-proof, time-stamped, and auditable by regulators, giving everyone confidence that the numbers add up and disputes can be resolved quickly and fairly.

Let’s break down different elements of this process in simple words: (No technical jargon, I promise!)

• Smart Meters: Every participant, whether a seller (prosumer) or buyer (consumer), has a smart meter that tracks electricity generation and consumption in real time.
• Digital Platform: A digital platform (think of it as an “energy bazaar” app) connects buyers and sellers. Here, prosumers list the amount of energy they have available and its corresponding price.
• Discovery & Matching: Consumers search for available energy offers, compare prices, and place orders, just like booking a cab or ordering groceries online.
• Automated Contracts: Once a deal is struck, the platform creates a digital contract for the agreed amount of energy at the agreed price.
• Grid as Delivery Network: The actual electricity flows through the existing grid, but the platform keeps track of who supplied how much to whom, and when.
• Settlement & Payment: At the end of every billing period, the platform calculates how much each participant owes or is owed, factoring in grid usage charges and small platform fees. Payments are settled digitally, and everyone gets a transparent bill.

By combining real-time data, open standards, and secure digital records, India’s P2P energy trading platforms are turning every rooftop and battery into a node in a smarter, more democratic energy grid.

Why Is P2P Energy Trading Important?

Globally, energy demand is soaring with electrification, rapid economic growth, and a growing number of devices drawing electricity in every household, e.g., more ACs, EVs, and generally, more creature comforts, from washing machines to dishwashers.

India is no stranger to this trend. Rooftop solar is booming, batteries are getting cheaper, and millions of new electric vehicles are hitting the roads. But our grid is under strain: blackouts, congestion, and wasted renewable energy are all too common.

At the same time, India has made aggressive commitments to clean up its energy supply and combat climate change. But, delays in connecting new renewable projects and updating grid infrastructure are emerging as critical barriers. As renewable projects are often smaller than traditional fossil fuel-powered mega power stations, transmission of small amounts of electricity over long distances becomes a challenge.

As per a now-famous meme, modern problems require modern solutions. P2P energy trading is that solution for the energy sector.

Here’s why it matters in the Indian context:

• Empowering the Common Man: For the first time, ordinary people can earn money from their rooftop solar panels, batteries, or even their electric vehicles, turning energy from an expense into an income stream.
• Lower Bills, Cleaner Power: Local trading means more renewable energy is used where it’s generated, reducing transmission losses and dependence on polluting power plants. Buyers can access cheaper, greener power, while sellers get better returns.
• Grid Resilience: By balancing supply and demand locally, P2P trading helps reduce grid congestion and blackouts, especially important as more Indians install ACs, EVs, and smart appliances.
• Climate Action: Every unit of locally traded renewable energy is a unit that’s not generated from coal or gas. P2P trading accelerates the clean energy transition, helping India meet its climate goals.
• Innovation and Inclusion: With open digital platforms, even small players (say, farmers, shopkeepers, housing societies) can participate. This democratises the energy market, and reduces the load on traditional utility companies that are under immense financial and operational strain, given the size of our nation.

A Win-Win Solution to Indians’ Energy Woes

When you peel back the layers of P2P energy trading, it’s not just households and solar panel owners who stand to gain. This model is a game-changer for India’s electricity distribution companies (Discoms), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and the rapidly growing community of electric vehicle (EV) users.

• For Discoms, P2P trading is like a pressure valve for the grid. Instead of being solely responsible for balancing supply and demand across sprawling cities and villages, Discoms can leverage local energy exchanges to smooth out peaks and troughs. This means fewer blackouts, reduced grid congestion, and less need for expensive infrastructure upgrades. Plus, by enabling more renewable energy to flow through their networks, Discoms can meet regulatory targets and improve their financial health, collecting grid usage fees and platform charges without the headache of managing every single transaction. In short, P2P trading helps Discoms transform from overburdened utilities into agile facilitators of a smarter, cleaner grid.
• For OEMs like think solar panel makers, battery manufacturers, and smart meter providers, P2P energy trading unlocks a thriving new market. As more Indians see value in generating and trading their own power, demand for high-quality, interoperable equipment will soar. OEMs can innovate, bundle, and offer smart solutions that plug seamlessly into digital energy marketplaces, driving both sales and brand loyalty. It’s a virtuous cycle of investment, innovation, and adoption that can power India’s clean energy ambitions.
• And for EV users, P2P trading is a breath of fresh air. Imagine topping up your EV with clean, local solar power from your neighbour’s rooftop, often at a better price than the grid. Or, if you have a home charger and solar panels, selling surplus energy back to the community when your car is parked. This flexibility means lower charging costs, greener commutes, and a more resilient charging network, especially important as India’s EV revolution accelerates.

Pilots, Progress, and Policy

India is already a global pioneer in P2P energy trading. Between 2020 and 2022, pilot projects in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Kolkata tested blockchain-based P2P platforms with great success. Recognising the potential, Indian regulators have stepped up:

• Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) issued P2P trading regulations in April 2023.
• Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) published Peer-to-Peer Energy Transaction Guidelines in June 2024.
• Karnataka has also issued provisional regulations, with more states set to follow soon.

These guidelines specify how energy charges are set, how platform and grid fees are collected, and how disputes are resolved, creating a robust framework for scaling up P2P trading nationwide.

Introducing Kazam’s Buzz Platform: The Energy Bazaar of the Future

One of the most exciting innovations in this space is Kazam’s Buzz platform.

Kazam is already a household name in India’s EV charging and energy management sector, with over 50,000 chargers deployed across 5,000+ pincodes. Building on this expertise, Buzz by Kazam is designed to be an open, interoperable marketplace for P2P energy trading. Here’s how Buzz helps you make the best of your solar energy experience:

• User-Friendly: Whether you’re a tech-savvy urbanite or a first-time solar user in a small town, Buzz offers a simple, intuitive interface for listing, discovering, and trading energy.
• Interoperable: Buzz uses open standards like the Beckn Protocol and Unified Energy Interface (UEI), ensuring it can connect with other platforms, utilities, and devices, no lock-in, no silos.
• Smart Integration: The platform seamlessly integrates with smart meters, EV chargers, batteries, and rooftop solar systems, giving you real-time visibility and control.
• Secure & Transparent: Every transaction is recorded on a blockchain, ensuring trust, transparency, and regulatory compliance.
• Scalable: Whether you’re a single household or a large housing society, Buzz can handle everything from micro-trades (a few units) to bulk transactions.

India Energy Stack: How P2P energy trading fits into the picture?

Just as this P2P revolution is gaining momentum, something remarkable happened in June 2025. The Indian government announced the India Energy Stack (IES), quite literally, the UPI moment for India's power sector.

If you think about it, this is exactly what P2P energy trading needed to truly take off: a unified, nationwide digital backbone that makes energy transactions as seamless as sending money through UPI.

The India Energy Stack (IES) is a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) designed to break down the old silos of the power sector. It creates a secure, interoperable digital layer that links producers, grid operators, discoms, consumers, and regulators, making energy flows as seamless as sending a text or making a digital payment. The government has already begun a 12-month proof of concept in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Gujarat, and even the International Energy Agency is backing this initiative.

The initiative, spearheaded by none other than Nandan Nilekani (the brain behind Aadhaar and UPI), promises to do for energy what those platforms did for identity and payments. Every energy consumer, prosumer, and even every kilowatt-hour will get a unique digital identity, making tracking, trading, and settling energy transactions as simple as scanning a QR code. The IES will provide real-time, consent-based data sharing and open APIs that let different platforms (like Kazam's Buzz) talk to each other seamlessly, breaking down the silos that have long plagued India's power sector.

So, for the first time, local energy markets, like the P2P trading you read about above, are no longer isolated pilots, but part of a national movement. The IES empowers every Indian household to participate in energy trading with the same ease and trust as digital payments. It ensures that your solar surplus, your battery storage, or your EV’s flexible charging can be discovered, contracted, and settled instantly, with full transparency and regulatory compliance.

The Road Ahead

P2P energy trading is not really a technological innovation; it’s an ingenious solution that makes use of our existing systems to create entirely new local energy markets, albeit one that’s cleaner and more sustainable.

With supportive policies, open digital infrastructure, and platforms like Kazam’s Buzz, India is well-placed to lead the world in this new era.

So, the next time you see sunlight pouring onto your rooftop, remember: you’re not just a consumer. You’re a potential energy entrepreneur, part of a growing network that’s lighting up India, one peer-to-peer trade at a time.

FAQ’s

1. Can I sell my solar power to others?
1. Yes, via approved P2P platforms.
2. How do I earn from my solar panel?
1. By signing up as a prosumer on a P2P platform like Buzz by Kazam.
3. What devices and systems can I connect with P2P energy trading systems?
1. P2P energy trading systems like Buzz by Kazam are designed for interoperability. You can connect smart meters, rooftop solar systems, EV chargers, batteries, and other energy devices that use open standards like the Beckn Protocol and Unified Energy Interface (UEI). This ensures seamless integration and no vendor lock-in.
4. How secure are my energy transactions?
1. Every transaction on P2P energy trading systems like Buzz by Kazam is recorded using blockchain technology, making all trades secure, transparent, and tamper-proof. This also ensures compliance with regulatory requirements and allows for easy auditing if needed.
5. Can I use P2P energy trading if I live in an apartment or a housing society?
1. Yes. P2P energy trading systems like Buzz by Kazam are scalable and support both individual households and larger entities like housing societies. Whether you want to trade a few units or manage bulk transactions for your community, Buzz can handle it.
6. What kind of support does Buzz by Kazam offer for new users?
1. Buzz provides a user-friendly interface and onboarding support, making it accessible for both tech-savvy users and first-time solar owners. The platform guides you through listing, discovering, and trading energy, ensuring a smooth experience.
7. Are there any fees for using Buzz?
1. Buzz by Kazam charges a small platform fee and factors in grid usage charges during settlement. All costs are transparently displayed in your digital bill at the end of each billing period.
8. How do payments and settlements work on Buzz?
1. At the end of every billing cycle, Buzz by Kazam automatically calculates the amount owed or earned by each participant, including platform and grid charges. Payments are settled digitally, and you receive a detailed, transparent bill.
9. Is P2P energy trading available across India?
1. Currently, P2P energy trading systems like Buzz by Kazam operate in states with approved P2P energy trading regulations (such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Karnataka). As more states adopt these policies, the availability will expand accordingly.
10. Can I track my energy trades and earnings in real time?
1. Yes. Buzz by Kazam offers real-time visibility and control over your energy generation, usage, trades, and earnings through its integrated dashboard.