Exchange prices of power increase, hit ceiling price in peak hours

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₹6.78 per unit, up 23% from ₹5.51 a month earlier. Further, the duration of power price hitting the cap of ₹10 per unit rose to 12 hours a day, up from four hours a month earlier. "During daytime, prices have been around ₹3.5 per unit and market participants have been leveraging RTM (real-time market) segment to optimize their power procurement costs.

However, during peak hours, market prices have hit a ceiling price of ₹10/unit," an industry executive said on condition of anonymity. Peak hours are generally at evening and night. Power distributors with long-term power purchase agreements aren't hampered by the price fluctuations, since they're bound by tariff agreements.

Meanwhile, those buying from exchanges are unable to pass on the higher costs to end users. On a monthly average, though, June prices in the day-ahead market are marginally up to ₹5.4 per unit compared to ₹5.3 in the whole of May. Rohit Bajaj, executive director, business development, strategy and regulatory affairs, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) said: "The recent temperature surge has significantly pushed up power demand, with the country's peak demand reaching 250 GW this year surpassing the previous high of 243 GW recorded in September last year.

In the first two months of the current financial year, India has seen a nearly 14% year-over-year increase in electricity consumption." India's peak power demand touched a record 250 GW on 30 May. Although demand has since eased, it is still at elevated levels. On 17 June, it was at 240 GW, while on 18 June, the demand was at 239 GW, according to data from the Grid Controller of India.