When meters start to talk: The public’s encounter with smart meters in France

Efficiency targets proposed as part of international commitments to reduce CO 2 emissions include future changes in individual patterns of energy consumption. This goal is presently being addressed in France through the installation of smart meters. Considering that public resistance or blatant opposition could jeopardize the grid modernization in the whole country, this study focused on the responses of groups of citizens from the two French communities where the new meters were first installed: Château-Renault (rural) and Lyon (urban). This study used the method of reconvened focus groups to inform policymakers about the reasoning of citizens in this situation. The discussions and the material generated by the groups provided very concrete elements on how the participants tried to make sense of the meter device itself and the policy goals, in relation to their daily and social life. The exchanges between participants seemed to fit into three main dialogical pairs, or themata: collective vs. individual (daily life); private (my behaviour) vs. public spheres (others' behaviours); and consumption: individualist vs. collectivist. The collective elaboration throughout the group sessions reinforced the empowerment of the groups and led to considering more collectively-oriented approaches in contrast to the prevailing individualistic lifestyles.

[1]  Joeri Naus,et al.  Smart grids, information flows and emerging domestic energy practices , 2014 .

[2]  Kate Burningham,et al.  Imagined publics and engagement around renewable energy technologies in the UK , 2012 .

[3]  R. Silverstone,et al.  Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household , 2003 .

[4]  David Uzzell,et al.  Transforming environmental psychology , 2009 .

[5]  Patrick Devine-Wright,et al.  Understanding People's Ideas on Natural Resource Management: Research on Social Representations of Nature , 2012 .

[6]  Nicholas Smith,et al.  How the public engages with global warming: A social representations approach , 2013, Public understanding of science.

[7]  Nicky Hayes,et al.  Everyday Discourse and Common Sense: The Theory of Social Representations , 2005 .

[8]  U. Flick.  An Introduction to Qualitative Research , 1998 .

[9]  S. Baker,et al.  Sustainable development as symbolic commitment: Declaratory politics and the seductive appeal of ecological modernisation in the European Union , 2007 .

[10]  Marc Poumadère,et al.  Risk information and minority identity in the neighbourhood of industrial facilities , 2010 .

[11]  L. Whitmarsh,et al.  Social barriers to the adoption of smart homes , 2013 .

[12]  Tom Horlick-Jones,et al.  Translating between social worlds of policy and everyday life: The development of a group-based method to support policymaking by exploring behavioural aspects of sustainable consumption , 2015, Public understanding of science.

[13]  N. Marres.  Material Participation: Technology, the Environment and Everyday Publics , 2012 .

[14]  Paula Castro,et al.  Psycho-Social Processes in Dealing with Legal Innovation in the Community: Insights from Biodiversity Conservation , 2011, American journal of community psychology.

[15]  Paula Castro,et al.  ‘Imagining ourselves’ as participating publics: An example from biodiversity conservation , 2016, Public understanding of science.

[16]  Daphne Ngar-yin Mah,et al.  The role of the state in sustainable energy transitions: A case study of large smart grid demonstration projects in Japan , 2013 .

[17]  H. Staats,et al.  Effecting Durable Change , 2004 .

[18]  Patrick Devine-Wright,et al.  Towards a better understanding of people’s responses to renewable energy technologies: Insights from Social Representations Theory , 2015, Public understanding of science.

[19]  Michael Billig,et al.  Ideological Dilemmas: A Social Psychology of Everyday Thinking , 1988 .

[20]  Claus Svendsen,et al.  Great deeds or great risks? Scientists’ social representations of nanotechnology , 2016 .

[21]  Marianne Ryghaug,et al.  Making sense of global warming: Norwegians appropriating knowledge of anthropogenic climate change , 2011, Public understanding of science.

[22]  Ivana Marková,et al.  Dialogicality and social representations , 2003 .

[23]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Smart grids, smart users? The role of the user in demand side management , 2014 .

[24]  Stefano Paolo Corgnati,et al.  Smart meters and energy savings in Italy: Determining the effectiveness of persuasive communication in dwellings , 2014 .

[25]  Kathleen L. Spees,et al.  Impacts of Responsive Load in PJM: Load Shifting and Real Time Pricing , 2007 .

[26]  Kirsten Gram-Hanssen,et al.  Standby Consumption in Households Analyzed With a Practice Theory Approach , 2009 .

[27]  D. Mah,et al.  Consumer perceptions of smart grid development: Results of a Hong Kong survey and policy implications , 2012 .

[28]  Serge Moscovici,et al.  Psychoanalysis: Its image and its public , 2008 .

[29]  Marc Poumadère,et al.  Public perceptions and governance of controversial technologies to tackle climate change: nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, wind, and geoengineering , 2011 .

[30]  Martin W. Bauer,et al.  Social Representations Theory: A Progressive Research Programme for Social Psychology , 2008 .

[31]  P. Devine‐Wright.  Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place‐protective action , 2009 .

[32]  T. P. Hughes,et al.  Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society , 1984 .

[33]  Tom Horlick-Jones.  Reasoning about safety management policy in everyday terms: a pilot study in citizen engagement for the UK railway industry , 2008 .

[34]  A. Giddens.  The Politics of Climate Change , 2009 .

[35]  Geertje Schuitema,et al.  How to Make the Unpopular Popular? Policy Characteristics, Social Norms and the Acceptability of Environmental Policies , 2012 .

[36]  D. Hess,et al.  Wireless smart meters and public acceptance: The environment, limited choices, and precautionary politics , 2014, Public understanding of science.

[37]  Tom Sorell,et al.  Scientism: Philosophy and the Infatuation with Science , 1994 .

[38]  M. Aune.  Energy comes home , 2007 .

[39]  Yoshihisa Kashima,et al.  Environmentalist identity and environmental striving , 2014 .

[40]  T. M. Skjølsvold,et al.  Back to the futures: Retrospecting the prospects of smart grid technology , 2014 .

[41]  Paula Castro,et al.  Legal Innovation for Social Change: Exploring Change and Resistance to Different Types of Sustainability Laws , 2012 .

[42]  Alexander L. Davis,et al.  Preparing for smart grid technologies: A behavioral decision research approach to understanding consumer expectations about smart meters , 2012 .

[43]  Tarla Rai Peterson,et al.  Smart Grid Coverage in U.S. Newspapers: Characterizing Public Conversations , 2014 .

[44]  Tomas Moe Skjølsvold,et al.  Curb Your Enthusiasm: On Media Communication of Bioenergy and the Role of the News Media in Technology Diffusion , 2012 .

[45]  C. Vlek,et al.  A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation , 2005 .

[46]  Michael Nye,et al.  Making energy visible: A qualitative field study of how householders interact with feedback from smart energy monitors , 2010 .

[47]  F. M. Hughes,et al.  Power System Control and Stability , 1977 .

[48]  Alessandra Armenti,et al.  Parliamentary and press discourses on sustainable energy in Italy: No more hard paths, not yet soft paths , 2014 .

[49]  Martin W. Bauer,et al.  Towards a Paradigm for Research on Social Representations , 1999 .

[50]  Sarah C. Darby,et al.  Metering: EU policy and implications for fuel poor households , 2012 .

[51]  Déborah Idier,et al.  Coastal vulnerabilities under the deliberation of stakeholders: The case of two French sandy beaches , 2015 .

[52]  T. P. Hughes.  Networks of power : electrification in Western society, 1880-1930 , 1984 .