Average spot power price drops 15% in Dec to Rs 3 per unit

A total of 3,108 MU was cleared, which is about 12% lower than the 3,524 MU traded in November and was almost equivalent to 3,095 MU traded in December 2016

Average spot power price dropped to Rs 3 per unit in December, which is about 15 per cent lower than Rs 3.55 per unit in the preceding month on Indian Energy Exchange (IEX).

"The average Market Clearing Price (MCP) discovered in Day-Ahead Market at IEX for December was at Rs 3 per unit, about 15 per cent lower than the price in November'17 which was Rs 3.55 per unit and 29 per cent above Rs 2.32 per unit same month last year," the exchange said in a statement said.

A total of 3,108 MU (million units) was cleared, which is about 12 per cent lower than the 3,524 MU traded in November and was almost equivalent to 3,095 MU traded in December 2016.

On a daily average basis about 100 MU were traded. Average daily sell and buy bids were 209 MU and 123 MU, respectively.

The total sell bids during the month were 6,475 MU and the total buy bids were 3,826 MU.

The IEX said that with persistent efforts from the government to improve the coal supply situation, the availability of coal at generators' end was better and thus the spot power prices reduced in comparison to the previous month.

Moreover, due to the seasonal variation and drop in temperature across northern states, power demand remained subdued in December, it said.

The 'one nation, one price' was realised for 30 days in the month of December.

On daily average basis, 841 participants traded in the day-ahead power market in December.

It said that a total of 8,41,052 ESCerts (energy saving certificates) were traded in December with maximum price at Rs 1,000 per ESCert and minimum price at Rs 350. The market saw trade of 66,569 ESCerts in November.

The Renewable Energy Certificate (RECs) Market, which trades on last Wednesday of every month, saw the highest ever trade of 32.39 lakh non-solar RECs traded at the floor price in the trading session held on 27 December, 2017 registering increase of 71 per cent over November, when 18.89 lakh non- solar RECs were traded.

The Term-Ahead Market (TAM) traded 78 MU in December, mainly in the Intra-day and day-ahead contingency market segments. The TAM traded 317 MU in November 2017 and 68 MU in December 2016.