PRODUCING THE ‘USER’ IN SMART TECHNOLOGIES: A framework for examining user representations in smart grids and smart metering infrastructure

This chapter addresses the anticipated use and users of smart-energy technologies and the contribution of these technologies to energy sustainability. It focuses on smart grids and smartenergy meters. It examines the perceptions of European technology developers and experts on the final use and social impacts of these technologies. It further compares the UK’s smart meter rollout with experiences from other European countries, especially Finland, to provide insights into the later adoption stages of smart energy and how its impacts have evolved. The analysis highlights significant differences in the likely intensity and manner of user engagement with smart grids and meters: depending on whether we are considering existing technologies or smart technologies that are expected to mature sometime in the next decade. It questions whether the anticipated ‘user’ is the end-user of smart meters or the intermediate users of an entire layer of new energy services and applications. By deploying the approach developed in the chapter, smart-grid developers and experts can give more explicit attention to recognising the descriptions of ‘users’ in smart-grid projects and to the feasibility of these expectations of ‘use’ in comparison to the possibilities and limits of energy services and applications in different country contexts. The examination of user representations can also point out the need for further technology and service development if some of the envisioned user profiles and user actions appear unrealistic for presently available technologies.