India's IEX says electricity traded volume hits record high in Dec amid low prices

The total electricity volume traded on the Indian Energy Exchange jumped 29% year over year to 11.132 billion units in December, an all-time high monthly volume, amid low prices in the day-ahead market, the exchange said Jan. 6.

In the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 (April-March), the electricity volume traded rose 16% year over year to 30.464 billion units.

The day-ahead market saw 6.674 billion units traded in December compared with 4.798 billion units in the same month last year. For the quarter, the day-ahead market recorded a traded volume of 16.712 billion units, up 14% year over year.

In December, the day-ahead market saw about a 57% increase in supply-side volumes from a year ago, which pressured prices, the IEX said, adding that the market clearing price in this segment was Rupees 3.89/unit, down 14% year over year.

"These prices presented an opportunity for discoms (distribution companies) and open access consumers to replace their costlier power by procuring through exchanges," the IEX said.

Open access allows consumers to buy power from a supplier of their choice.

For the third quarter, prices in the day-ahead market averaged Rupees 3.71/unit, down 26% year over year, due to the availability of ample supply liquidity, the IEX added.

The real-time electricity market's volume rose to 3.180 billion units in December, up 32% from last year, while it rose 30% year over year in the quarter to 9.322 billion units.

The traded volume in the IEX green market, comprising green day-ahead and green term-ahead market segments, more than tripled year over year to 781 million units in December.

The green day-ahead market saw 763 million units traded in December with a weighted average price of Rupees 3.92/unit. In November, the green day-ahead market saw 793 million units traded with a weighted average price of Rupees 3.19/unit.

"According to government data published in December [20]24, the country's energy consumption reached 130.40 BUs (billion units), an increase of nearly 6% compared to the previous year," the IEX said.

CRISIL, majority owned by S&P Global, expects the country's power demand to rise 5%-6% in the current fiscal year.

In other data, during the quarter, the IEX traded 2.65 million renewable energy certificates, up 31% year over year.

About 1.66 million RECs traded on Dec. 11 and Dec. 26 at a clearing price of Rupees 260/REC and Rupees 316/REC, respectively.

In comparison, Nov. 13 and Nov. 27 saw clearing prices of Rupees 140/REC and Rupees 190/REC, respectively, the IEX had said.