What appears to be an unstoppable and unquestionable 'consensus' regarding the necessity of restructuring/reforming the electricity sector in India has been shattered by the unbelievable news of the California energy crisis. In a state at the forefront of the IT revolution, there have been unscheduled interruptions of power and rolling blackouts covering hundreds of thousands of consumers. Suddenly, the situation there appears no different from backward developing country cities. This paper is addressed to the task of understanding the California energy crisis through a factual description of the crisis and a discussion of the causal factors responsible for it. It concludes with drawing the lessons from the California energy crisis particularly with regard to power sector reform in India.
