Electricity prices in the spot market declined by 32% on year in October owing to enhanced hydro, wind, and solar generation, combined with steady supply from coal-based plants.
As per data from the Indian Energy Exchange, market clearing price in the Day Ahead Market stood at Rs. 2.67/unit during October, down 32% from the same period last year. Similarly, prices in the Real Time Market stood at Rs 2.73/unit during last month, down 27.8% from October 2024.
“Enhanced hydro, wind, and solar generation, combined with steady supply from coal-based generation resulted in higher supply liquidity on the exchange platform, leading to a decline in DAM and RTM prices,” IEX said.
The decline in prices presented an opportunity for discoms and commercial & Industrial consumers to meet their demand at a competitive price and to replace their costlier power by procuring through exchanges.
According to government data, the country’s energy consumption reached 132 billion units during October, registering a decline of 6% compared to the previous year.
The peak demand for power this season so far has touched 242.5 gigawatt (GW) in June, against the government’s projections of 270 GW. Last year, the peak demand for power reached 250 GW.
While the power prices declined, the volume of electricity trade in the exchange rose 6.7% during October.
The Day-Ahead Market (DAM) including High Price DAM achieved 4,684 million units of volume in October as compared to 4,388 MU volume in October 2024, an increase of 6.7%. The DAM segment accounted for 38.7% of the total traded volumes in October.
The Real-Time Electricity Market (RTM) volume also increased to 4,583 MU in October, from 3,123 MU in October last year, registering an increase of 46.8% YoY, accounting for 37.8% of the total traded volumes.
The exchange achieved a monthly electricity traded volume of 11,233 MU in October, marking an 16.5% increase on a year-on-year basis.
Coal stocks at the country’s thermal power plants stood at 79% of the normative level as on November 3, at around 42 million tonnes, data from the Central Electricity Authority showed.
As on September 30, the country’s total installed capacity stood at 500.8 gigawatt (GW). Of this, renewable energy capacity stood at 247.3 GW and thermal capacity at 244.8 GW.