Demand for electricity continues to slide on power exchange

Compared to Sept, the purchase bids declined whereas the sale bids rose: IEX

Reflecting a sluggish trend, the demand for electricity at the Indian Energy Exchange declined in October even as availability of power for sale increased.

The number of purchase bids stood at close to 3,596 million units last month, much lower than sale bids to the tune of 4,453 MUs during the same period.

Compared to September, the purchase bids declined whereas the sale bids rose, according to IEX.

In September, the purchase bids touched 3,809 MUs while bids for selling power stood at 4,386 MUs.

"The overall demand for electricity in the country lowered owing to seasonal variations and intermittent precipitation in most parts of the country which is uncommon for this time of the year.

"Similar trend was observed in the spot electricity market at IEX," it said in a statement today.

In the day-ahead market, average prices of per unit electricity hovered around Rs 2.4/kWh.

"On an overall basis, the prices across all bid areas decreased with the Southern Region being an exception... Unavailability of transmission corridor for several days across the month saw the Southern region prices firm up further over the previous month," the statement said.

In terms of traded volumes, Northern and Southern regions were net buyers while Eastern, Western and the North-Eastern regions were net sellers of electricity.

"On an average 85.30 MUs were cleared daily in October 2013 at the exchange," it added.