The role of energy in creating opportunities for income generation in the Indian Himalayas

► Impacts of energy on income are researched in 264 small enterprises in rural India. ► Stratifying steps between supply and impacts allows analysis of actual use of energy. ► Even though uptake of electricity is high, impacts on income are low. ► Lacking networks to markets cause low impacts on incomes for small scale enterprises. ► Energy does impact incomes in the few rural enterprises with distant markets.