Electricity prices in the spot market declined by 15% on year to Rs 4.47 per unit in FY25 despite increasing demand as the sell liquidity increased, data from Indian Energy Exchange showed.
Given the increase in demand, the power ministry took various measures throughout the year to enhance power supply including extending the directive for imported coal-based power plants to operate at full capacity, sale of surplus power on power exchanges, ensuring the availability of gas-based plants, and higher availability of generating units to meet peak demand.
Following this, the sell liquidity in the Day Ahead Market segment increased by 36% on-year during the last fiscal 2024-25, thereby keeping power prices competitive on the exchange, according to the Indian Energy Exchange.
“These measures along with ample availability of coal with coal inventory around 21 days and no loss of generation, in the fiscal year 2025, ensured sufficient supply liquidity in the system,” the exchange said.
The exchange achieved the highest ever electricity traded volume of 121 billion units in FY25, registering an increase of 19% from the previous year. It also recorded the highest ever yearly trade of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in FY25. A total of 178 lakh Renewable Energy Certificates were traded during the year, marking 136% year on year increase.
Power demand during the fiscal rose 4.4%, while energy consumption registered an increase of 7% compared to last year, as per official data.
On March 11, peak demand reached 235 GW, surpassing the maximum peak demand of 222 GW recorded in March 2024. Despite the increase in power demand, the average market clearing Price in the Day Ahead Market during March 2025 was Rs. 4.47/unit due to increased supply.
Going ahead the government expects peak demand to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 7% and has projected peak power demand to cross 270 gigawatt (GW) this year.
During the fourth quarter of the last fiscal too, market clearing price in the Day Ahead Market remained at a lower end at Rs 4.43 per unit, down 9% from the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
For Q4FY25, IEX achieved its highest ever quarterly electricity traded volume of 31,747 million units, marking an 18% year on year increase. For the month of March alone, IEX achieved the highest ever monthly electricity traded volume of 11,215 million units, marking a 29% increase on a year-on-year basis.
“The government has been implementing measures to enhance supply, including extending the directive for imported coal-based power plants to operate at full capacity until April 30 and ensuring the availability of gas-based plants to meet peak demand. Additionally, the revival of 10–15 GW of generation capacity from the 45 GW currently under outage, along with continued additions in renewable and thermal capacity, is expected to bring additional supply in the coming months to meet demand,” Rohit Bajaj, Joint Managing Director, Indian Energy Exchange had said.
The country’s coal based power plants are also ramping up coal stocks to meet the expected surge in the demand for power. Coal stocks at power plants have improved this year owing to various measures including efficient logistical arrangements by the government to ensure adequate availability of coal amid rising demand for power.
Coal stocks at the country’s thermal power plants stood at 81% of the normative level as on April 2 at 58.02 million tonnes, data from the Central Electricity Authority showed.