Electricity Trading at IEX Registers 45% YoY Increase

The national peak demand in the same period saw a 2 per cent YoY increase and energy consumption recorded a 4.6 per cent YoY increase, according to the data published by the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC).

The day-ahead market cleared a volume of 4781 MU during the month. The market continued to witness high sell-side liquidity, with the total sell bids at 9669 MU being more than twice of the cleared volume.

With robust sell-side liquidity, the average market clearing price at Rs 2.69 per unit saw a decline of 3 per cent on a YoY basis over Rs 2.77 per unit in September 2019, helping both the distribution utilities and industries to accrue significant financial savings.

Attractive prices and ample availability supported the southern, western and northern state distribution utilities to leverage the IEX for meeting their short-term electricity requirements as well as for replacement of costlier power to optimise their overall cost of power procurement.

One Nation-One Price prevailed during all 30 days of the month. The trade in the term-ahead market stood at 107 MU for the month.

The real-time electricity market (RTM) registered a total trade of 704 MU during September. The market saw 41.76 MU as the highest volume being traded on a single day on September 2.

During the month, the sell bids were at 2159 MU and the buy bids were at 924 MU. With the sell-side at nearly 2.3 times the buy-side, the average market discovered at Rs 2.52 per unit was attractive for buyers.

On a cumulative basis, the market has achieved a volume trade of 2865 MU in the first four months since its inception on June 1, 2020.

?Also, the market has been seeing a continuous increase in the participation since it facilitates the utilities and industries in managing real-time power requirements in the most efficient, and competitive manner with the delivery of power at just one-hour notice,? IEX said in a press release.

IEX commenced trading in the green term-ahead market on August 21 this year. Presently, the market offers to trade in intraday and day-ahead contracts in both solar and non-solar segments. The market has received an overwhelming response since launch and has registered a volume of 82.92 MU during September.

The market saw participation from 20 entities during the month and the highest single-day participation of 15 was recorded on September 30. Key participants included distribution utilities such as Calcutta Electric Supply Corp. (CESC), Damodar Valley Corp. (DVC), Bihar, Haryana, DNH Power Distribution Corp. Ltd, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana.

The renewable energy certificates (RECs) trading session which was scheduled on September 30 could not take place due to the stay order from the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) in response to the petitions filed by a few renewable energy associations against the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) order dated June 2020 regarding revision in the floor and forbearance prices of RECs.