An empirical study of energy carriers used for cooking in Bangalore reveals that with increases in income, firewood and charcoal give way to kerosene which in turn is displaced by LPG and electricity. This carrier substitution process can be modeled as an income-dependent competition between two technologies for adoption by the households. The carrier shifts for cooking have provided an empirical basis for the energy ladder concept, in which each step of the ladder corresponds to a different energy carrier and its associated appliance and the step up to which a household climbs the ladder depends upon its income. As society becomes more egalitarian, an energy ladder based on incomes should disappear. Thus, the real merit of the empirical and theoretical analysis of energy ladders presented here is that it serves as an excellent guide to policy formulation and intervention.