Rio de Janeiro : Regularising energy consumption in favelas through reshaping consumers into customers

International audienceThe process of regularization of access to electricity services in informal settlements is often described as a "transformation of consumers into customers". In most cases, such a transformation is to redefine poor commercial relationship and create energy efficiency measures to help adjust the consumption patterns of families to their financial capacity. Within the context of the political changes in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where the UPP were installed (Pacifying Police Unit), this article explores the process of electricity regularization, focusing on the aspects of energy efficiency measures implemented by the distribution company service. The main purpose of this article is to show how this form of infrastructure reconfiguration is implemented through commercial logics, which in turn have consequences in the way of energy saving measures are promoted. Firstly, the article presents the articulation of two different body of literature that allow an understanding of the relationship between infrastructure, consumer practices and public policies for energy efficiency. Secondly, the article proposes an analysis of the tools used by the company and the perceptions of families. The paper argues that the measures adopted by the electricity distribution company appear at the same time, to weaken consumer understanding about their own consumption and, paradoxically, stimulate higher levels of it. The article then highlights some limits of a commercial approach to saving energy and contradictions of its policy