IEX electricity market trade zooms 47 pc in May

New Delhi [India], June 3 : The electricity market at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) registered a total trade of 6,005 million units in May, marking a significant 47 per cent year-on-year increase despite the national peak demand recording a 9 per cent decline during the month.
The market demonstrated a significant uptick mainly owing to the increase in demand and consumption in
the month driven by seasonality factor -- peaking summers leading to increased consumption across essential
services, especially healthcare institutions and households, due to increase in work from home for corporate
employees.
Moreover, the steady lifting of the Covid-19 preventive lockdown enabled industries and commerce to get back to business, and thus consumption from commercial and industrial customers through open access also witnessed a rise.
The day-ahead market traded 5,574 million units, recording a significant 48 per cent year-on-year increase. The total monthly sell bids at 10,580 million units and buy bids were at 6,137 million units. The buy-sell dynamics indicate ample power availability in the market -- 1.7 times more sell than buy.
The consequent lower prices provided a compelling proposition for the industries as well as the distribution utilities to meet their short-term demand as well as replace costlier generation with attractively priced power procured through the exchange.
The average market clearing price during the month was at Rs 2.57 per unit, registered a 23 per cent decline
over price of Rs 3.34 in May 2019.
IEX said it rendered significant support in improving their financial liquidity during the crisis through greater savings which is very critical during this time as the sector looks for revival.