In India, household connection rates are four times higher in villages serviced by energy cooperatives than in villages served by the State electricity board (ILO, 2013). Energy cooperatives operate, for example, in Bangladesh, Cambodia, South Sudan and Uganda. Bangladesh's programme, inspired by the United States model (box 4.3), is considered one of the most successful in the developing world. Subsidies and grants play a significant role in setting up such cooperatives. However, most LDCs have limited capacity for electricity regulation, reflecting both a lack of staff with the requisite skills and experience and financial constraints. Since high development costs and low profit margins deterred investor-owned utilities from expansion into rural areas, as in LDCs today, most rural electrification occurred through consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives.