Electricity price slides on Indian Energy Exchange

Price of electricity sold on the Indian Energy Exchange declined to Rs 3.03 per unit last month as transmission constraints and restrictions imposed by some states took a toll on the spot market.
The average market clearing price in March touched Rs 3.03 per unit, almost eight per cent lower than the level recorded in previous month. In February, the price per unit stood at Rs 3.29.
Total cleared volume on the exchange last month was 2.3 billion units, almost similar to the level seen in February.
"The exchange expected significant increase in demand of electricity in lieu of the impending Lok Sabha elections this month, however, transmission constraints as well as open access restrictions in Gujarat and Karnataka led to stagnancy in the spot market," the exchange said in a statement.

According to IEX, unavailability of the transmission corridor continued to be a deterrent in March as around 550 million units of electricity could not be traded due to network congestion.
"Moreover import of electricity into Southern region, and Northern region along with exchange of electricity between southern states was affected due to congestion," it said.
Meanwhile in the last financial year ended March 2014, average market clearing price of electricity was about Rs 2.80 per unit and the volumes reached 29 billion units.
"Transmission congestion was persistent through the year and led to a loss of 5.3 billion units in trading volume during the fiscal.