India recorded an overall average power supply deficit of 0.6 percent during the six-month period between April to September 2018, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

During this six-month period, 654,153 million units (MU) of energy was supplied against a demand of 657,999 MU leading to a deficit of 3,846 MU. The supply deficit as well as peak power deficit for the six-month period stood at 0.6 percent.

Compared to the same period in 2017 (April to September), the supply deficit dropped by 0.1 percent and the peak power deficit dropped by 1.4 percent.

During the six-month period ending in September 2018, the Northeastern region faced the largest peak power supply deficit of 3.6 percent, followed by the Northern region at 1.3 percent, the Eastern region at 0.5 percent and the Southern region at 0.2 percent.

During the same period in 2018, Northeastern region faced the highest peak power deficit of 3.9 percent, followed by Northern region at 2.3 percent, the Western region at 1.8 percent, the Eastern region at 0.8 percent and the Southern region at 0.6 percent.

In the latest Load Generation Balance Report (LGBR), which studies the anticipated power supply position for FY 2018-19, CEA forecasts India is likely to have a peak surplus of 2.5 percent and an energy surplus of 4.6 percent.

It is interesting to note that spot power price witnessed an unprecedented spike in September 2018 in which the recorded spot power price was ₹4.69 (~$0.063)/kWh. This is 41 percent more than the spot power price of ₹3.34 (~$0.044)/kWh recorded in August 2018. According to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), “The all India peak demand touched 176 GW in September 18, 2018, registering a three percent increase over August 2018 and 11 percent increase over September 2017, per the national load dispatch center (NLDC) statistics.”