Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited has said there is a situation of higher demand and lower supply in the power exchanges during the summer period.

On analysing the data from previous years, it is observed that during procurement of power through exchange even if petitioner placed bid during summer period at the maximum price, they could get only 30% of the bided quantum, as the buy bids were more than double the sell bids quantum in some blocks, it said in a recent petition with Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) seeking nod for procuring short term power.

The State power utility meets the power demand through its own generating stations, Central Generating Stations, Renewable energy sources and through various power purchase agreements executed under long- and medium-term tenders.

It also purchases power through exchanges in Day Ahead Market (DAM), Real Time Market (RTM) and Term Ahead Market (TAM) in case of outages of its own generating stations.

At present, a peculiar situation prevails in Power Exchanges where the price has gone as high as ₹12 per unit and that the power purchase is not viable due to high competition remain indisputed, TNERC noted.

State’s power demand in the upcoming summer months is expected to surpass the previous year’s all-time high peak power demand of 20,830 MW reached on May 2, 2024 and the record high daily consumption of 454.320 million units on April 30, 2024.