Understanding the Sources of Consumer Resistance to Smart Meters

International audienceToday, the combined effect of the development of renewable energy and the electrification of the whole economy, including vehicles, is radically transforming the operation of the grid. As a result, demand-side management is increasingly attracting policy attention as a tool to increase the flexibility of electricity systems and reduce the carbon intensity of electricity supply (Parish et al. in Energy Policy 138, 2020). Specifically, demand-side management, which is active management by the user of their own demand, is expected to result in two main consumption practices (Batalla-Bejerano et al. in Energy Policy 144(C), 2020): (1) load shifting—shifting consumption from peak to off-peak periods and, (2) strategic conservation—performing activities that reduce energy consumption. In this context, smart meters, as they are implemented in households at a large scale, constitute the cornerstone of demand-side management while improving the efficiency and reliability of the overall electricity system