This paper discusses the effects of energy access, in the form of newly implemented solar energy, on the dynamics of gender and family in rural Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. India has seen a remarkable transformation into an emerging economic power in recent years which has brought change also to political, cultural and social relations in society, thus bringing India ‘closer’ to the rest of the world. These globalising effects often related through media and communication are contingent on access to energy. The global access provided by the implementation of electricity provides challenges to local norms and hierarchies of community, family and gender. Still, India’s institution of family is depicted by counter discourses, as being made of a ‘different fabric’ upholding traditional Hindu gendered culture and values. By exploring the everyday life of three informants—a young bahu (daughter-in-law), a young educated bachelor, and a self-help group leader in her 40s—this article illustrates that access to energy provided many important benefits, but at the same times the outcomes are not equally distributed and reinforce existing inequalities.