Read the Bill First

Description

In 2002, an engineer was asked to sign a petition against a proposed Electricity Bill.
Instead of signing, he asked a simple question: have you read it? That question set him
on more than two decades of reading, and it is the reason this book exists.
Read the Bill First tells the story of Indian power in the order it happened: the first
lamps of Calcutta and the Indian Electricity Act of 1910; the state-led planning of the
1948 Act; the opening of the sector in the 1990s; the Electricity Act of 2003 and the
age of markets; the renewable surge and the unfinished reform of distribution; and
the road ahead to 2035, 2047 and 2070.
Written by a retired Chief Engineer for students, young engineers, analysts, lawyers,
journalists and every consumer who pays an electricity bill, it shows how each law, in
stitution and reform answered the crisis of its day, and left a new problem for the
next

About the Author

Amitava Nag graduated in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur, in 1983. He then spent his entire working life as a public servant in the State Electricity sector, retiring as Chief Engineer. His career gave him first-hand experience of how the power system actually runs, from the engineering on the ground to the policy decisions behind it.
His interest in the larger story of Indian electricity began in 2002, when he was asked to sign a petition against the proposed Electricity Bill. Rather than sign, he chose to read the Bill himself first. That decision started a habit of independent inquiry that has continued ever since and led to this book.
Read the Bill First is the result of years of curiosity, reading, and reflection, tracing the chronological development of the electricity sector in India.

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