Indian Energy Exchange Ltd, whose shares are down 15 per cent year-to-date, are in focus on Thursday morning after the energy exchange in a filing to BSE said its profit for March quarter grew 9.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 96.70 crore on 15.2 per cent YoY rise in sales at Rs 149.30 crore. The IEX board announced a final dividend of Rs 1.50 for FY24.
For the quarter, IEX achieved 30.1 BU volume across all segments, up 15.5 per cent on YoY basis. This volume comprised 25.9 BU from the conventional power market segment, 1 BU from the green market segment and 32.48 lakh Renewable Energy Certificates (equivalent to 3.2 BU).
REC traded volume in the March quarter rose 98 per cent YoY. The DAM prices on the exchange fell to Rs 4.89 per unit in the March quarter, down 20 per cent YoY compared with Rs 6.08 per unit in the same quarter last year.
IEX said India’s electricity consumption in FY24 hit 1,622 BUs, up 7.7 per cent YoY. On the fuel side, India's coal production ros 11.7 per cent YoY to reach around 1 billion tonnes and coal dispatches to the power sector increased 8.8 per cent YoY to 810 million tonnes.
"E-auction coal premium continued to decline throughout the financial year. The coal premium under Shakti B8 action has come down to around 20 per cent. Coal inventory on 31st March 2024 stood at nearly 20 days, the highest since 2021. The imported coal price at $55 per tonne for the month of April’24, represents a decline of 23 per cent on YoY basis," IEX said.
This improved supply scenario resulted in increased sell liquidity at IEX, despite an increase in the country’s energy demand in the fiscal year 2024.
In FY24, the sell liquidity on the exchange rose 17 per cent YoY. IEX said the regulatory and policy landscape for the power market witnessed positive developments during the fiscal year.
"Notable among these were the General Network Access (GNA) regulation, the Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC) regulations, and Transmission Charges Sharing regulations. In preparation for the summer months, the Ministry of Power has announced several measures, such as mandating the sale of surplus un-requisitioned power on power exchanges by all thermal generating stations and rescheduling of planned maintenance of thermal power plants to the monsoon season. Additionally, section 11 directions for operationalization of imported coal-based plants are extended till 15 October 2024," it said.
Further, IEX said the government directed all gas-based power generating stations to operationalise their plants from May 1 to June 30 in view of rise in electricity demand. On the gas market front, the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) traded total volumes of 41 Million MMBtu in FY24, down 20 per cent YoY. The profit after tax for IGX for FY24 was Rs 23.1 crore, down 18 per cent YoY.