New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): The pick up in the economic activity in the unlock phase has pushed up electricity trading with the country's largest power exchange, Indian Energy Exchange, registering a 61 per cent growth in the traded electricity volume of 6164 MU (million units) in November.

According to the data published by National Load Despatch Center (NLDC), the national peak demand in November saw an increase of 3.2 per cent YoY while the energy consumption registered 3.15 per cent YoY growth.

The significant growth in the electricity trade volume at IEX despite a moderate increase in consumption and peak demand is a clear reflection that the distribution utilities as well as the open access consumers have a greater preference for competitive and efficient power procurement through the Exchange market, IEX said in a press statement.

The day-ahead market volume at 4860 MU also recorded 43 per cent YoY growth. The market continued to see high sell side liquidity with total sell bids at 9778 MU being twice that of the cleared volume. This enabled the market to maintain an attractive average market clearing price at Rs 2.73 per unit during the month seeing a four per cent YoY decline over the price of Rs 2.85 during the same period last year.

Attractive power prices in the Exchange Market continued to yield greater financial savings for the distribution utilities and industries enabling them to build on and improve their financial liquidity as well as overall efficiency.

One Nation One Price prevailed during all 30 days of the month making Exchange the most reliable platform for power procurement.

The term-ahead market traded 245 MU volume during November 2020.

The real-time electricity market saw an all-time high volume of 894 MU in November since commencement on June 1, 2020 and registered a 10 per cent growth on MoM basis. The highest volume traded on a single day was 40.6 MU on November 29.

The market witnessed a significant sell side liquidity with sell side volume being 2513 MU which was more than twice the buy side liquidity. This also ensured a competitive average market price of Rs 2.75 per unit.

Further, the market also continued to witness increased participation -- a total of 318 participants traded in the market in November with the highest number of participants trading on a single day at 168 on November 19. Over the past six months, the real time market has registered a cumulative volume of 4574 MU.

The market enables DISCOMs and open access to consumers address their demand-supply variations in the most dynamic and efficient manner through ensuring delivery at just one-hour notice.