IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v151y2021ics0301421521000677.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Demand response and energy justice: A critical overview of ethical risks and opportunities within digital, decentralised, and decarbonised futures

Author

Listed:
  • Calver, Philippa
  • Simcock, Neil

Abstract

The transition to a digital, decarbonised, and decentralised energy system presents both risks and opportunities for the domestic consumer. Domestic ‘demand-side response’ (DSR), where household electrical consumption adjusts in response to external signals, has been envisioned in different ways with several trials demonstrating that DSR often has variegated and uneven consumer outcomes. This plurality of outcomes raises questions about the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of pursuing such policies and thus brings them into the realm of energy justice – a framing that seeks to understand the ethical implications of energy systems. This paper, based on an extensive review of current academic literature, evaluates the normative implications of DSR in relation to the eight principles of energy justice proposed by Sovacool and Dworkin (2015). Whilst there are several ways that DSR may create opportunities for furthering energy justice, there are also multiple risks of injustice, with much depending on how particular DSR programmes are designed and the presence or absence of sufficient policies to mitigate regressive outcomes. Further empirical research is required to better understand the conditions through which DSR can contribute to energy justice. We conclude by offering policy recommendations for those developing DSR or consumer protection policies related to DSR rollout.

Suggested Citation

  • Calver, Philippa & Simcock, Neil, 2021. "Demand response and energy justice: A critical overview of ethical risks and opportunities within digital, decentralised, and decarbonised futures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:151:y:2021:i:c:s0301421521000677
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112198
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521000677
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112198?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Newsham, Guy R. & Bowker, Brent G., 2010. "The effect of utility time-varying pricing and load control strategies on residential summer peak electricity use: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3289-3296, July.
    2. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Dworkin, Michael H., 2015. "Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 435-444.
    3. Qadrdan, Meysam & Cheng, Meng & Wu, Jianzhong & Jenkins, Nick, 2017. "Benefits of demand-side response in combined gas and electricity networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 360-369.
    4. Bouzarovski, Stefan & Simcock, Neil, 2017. "Spatializing energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 640-648.
    5. Anda, Martin & Temmen, Justin, 2014. "Smart metering for residential energy efficiency: The use of community based social marketing for behavioural change and smart grid introduction," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 119-127.
    6. Gough, Ian & Abdallah, Saamah & Johnson, Viki & Ryan-Collins, Josh & Smith, Cindy, 2011. "The distribution of total embodied greenhouse gas emissions by households in the UK, and some implications for social policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 36562, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Tom Hargreaves & Lucie Middlemiss, 2020. "The importance of social relations in shaping energy demand," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 195-201, March.
    8. Lee V. White & Nicole D. Sintov, 2020. "Health and financial impacts of demand-side response measures differ across sociodemographic groups," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 50-60, January.
    9. Day, Rosie & Walker, Gordon & Simcock, Neil, 2016. "Conceptualising energy use and energy poverty using a capabilities framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 255-264.
    10. Hargreaves, Tom & Nye, Michael & Burgess, Jacquelin, 2010. "Making energy visible: A qualitative field study of how householders interact with feedback from smart energy monitors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6111-6119, October.
    11. Marikyan, Davit & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2019. "A systematic review of the smart home literature: A user perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 139-154.
    12. Bartusch, Cajsa & Wallin, Fredrik & Odlare, Monica & Vassileva, Iana & Wester, Lars, 2011. "Introducing a demand-based electricity distribution tariff in the residential sector: Demand response and customer perception," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5008-5025, September.
    13. Broberg, Thomas & Persson, Lars, 2016. "Is our everyday comfort for sale? Preferences for demand management on the electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 24-32.
    14. Strengers, Yolande, 2010. "Air-conditioning Australian households: The impact of dynamic peak pricing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7312-7322, November.
    15. Liddell, Christine & Morris, Chris, 2010. "Fuel poverty and human health: A review of recent evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2987-2997, June.
    16. Milchram, Christine & Hillerbrand, Rafaela & van de Kaa, Geerten & Doorn, Neelke & Künneke, Rolf, 2018. "Energy Justice and Smart Grid Systems: Evidence from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1244-1259.
    17. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Lipson, Matthew M. & Chard, Rose, 2019. "Temporality, vulnerability, and energy justice in household low carbon innovations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 495-504.
    18. Buchanan, Kathryn & Banks, Nick & Preston, Ian & Russo, Riccardo, 2016. "The British public’s perception of the UK smart metering initiative: Threats and opportunities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 87-97.
    19. Khan, Ahsan Raza & Mahmood, Anzar & Safdar, Awais & Khan, Zafar A. & Khan, Naveed Ahmed, 2016. "Load forecasting, dynamic pricing and DSM in smart grid: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1311-1322.
    20. Dupont, B. & De Jonghe, C. & Olmos, L. & Belmans, R., 2014. "Demand response with locational dynamic pricing to support the integration of renewables," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 344-354.
    21. Darby, Sarah J. & McKenna, Eoghan, 2012. "Social implications of residential demand response in cool temperate climates," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 759-769.
    22. Strbac, Goran, 2008. "Demand side management: Benefits and challenges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4419-4426, December.
    23. Cappers, Peter & Spurlock, C. Anna & Todd, Annika & Jin, Ling, 2018. "Are vulnerable customers any different than their peers when exposed to critical peak pricing: Evidence from the U.S," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 421-432.
    24. Herter, Karen & McAuliffe, Patrick & Rosenfeld, Arthur, 2007. "An exploratory analysis of California residential customer response to critical peak pricing of electricity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 25-34.
    25. Wilson, Charlie & Hargreaves, Tom & Hauxwell-Baldwin, Richard, 2017. "Benefits and risks of smart home technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 72-83.
    26. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2015. "Fuel poverty, affordability, and energy justice in England: Policy insights from the Warm Front Program," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 361-371.
    27. Herter, Karen, 2007. "Residential implementation of critical-peak pricing of electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2121-2130, April.
    28. Walker, Gordon & Day, Rosie, 2012. "Fuel poverty as injustice: Integrating distribution, recognition and procedure in the struggle for affordable warmth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 69-75.
    29. Bradley, Peter & Leach, Matthew & Torriti, Jacopo, 2013. "A review of the costs and benefits of demand response for electricity in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 312-327.
    30. repec:cep:sticas:/152 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Neuteleers, Stijn & Mulder, Machiel & Hindriks, Frank, 2017. "Assessing fairness of dynamic grid tariffs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 111-120.
    32. Saamah Abdallah & Ian Gough & Victoria Johnson & Josh Ryan-Collins & Cindy Smith, 2011. "The distribution of total greenhouse gas emissions by households in the UK, and some implications for social policy," CASE Papers case152, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tarasova, Ekaterina & Rohracher, Harald, 2023. "Marginalising household users in smart grids," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Brown, Marilyn A. & Chapman, Oliver, 2021. "The size, causes, and equity implications of the demand-response gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Chen, Ting & Vandendriessche, Frederik, 2023. "Enabling independent flexibility service providers to participate in electricity markets: A legal analysis of the Belgium case," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Merel Noorman & Brenda Espinosa Apráez & Saskia Lavrijssen, 2023. "AI and Energy Justice," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-16, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yiming Xiao & Han Wu & Guohua Wang & Hong Mei, 2021. "Mapping the Worldwide Trends on Energy Poverty Research: A Bibliometric Analysis (1999–2019)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Yilmaz, Selin & Xu, Xiaojing & Cabrera, Daniel & Chanez, Cédric & Cuony, Peter & Patel, Martin K., 2020. "Analysis of demand-side response preferences regarding electricity tariffs and direct load control: Key findings from a Swiss survey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    3. Bartiaux, Françoise & Vandeschrick, Christophe & Moezzi, Mithra & Frogneux, Nathalie, 2018. "Energy justice, unequal access to affordable warmth, and capability deprivation: A quantitative analysis for Belgium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1219-1233.
    4. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2015. "Demand side management in China: The context of China’s power industry reform," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 954-965.
    5. Meyabadi, A. Fattahi & Deihimi, M.H., 2017. "A review of demand-side management: Reconsidering theoretical framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 367-379.
    6. Caitlin Robinson & Stefan Bouzarovski & Sarah Lindley, 2018. "Underrepresenting neighbourhood vulnerabilities? The measurement of fuel poverty in England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(5), pages 1109-1127, August.
    7. Chen, Chien-fei & Nelson, Hannah & Xu, Xiaojing & Bonilla, Gregory & Jones, Nicholas, 2021. "Beyond technology adoption: Examining home energy management systems, energy burdens and climate change perceptions during COVID-19 pandemic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    8. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2023. "Price promises, trust deficits and energy justice: Public perceptions of hydrogen homes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    9. Pilar Murias & Beatriz Valcárcel-Aguiar & Rosa María Regueiro-Ferreira, 2020. "A Territorial Estimate for Household Energy Vulnerability: An Application for Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-21, July.
    10. Milchram, Christine & Hillerbrand, Rafaela & van de Kaa, Geerten & Doorn, Neelke & Künneke, Rolf, 2018. "Energy Justice and Smart Grid Systems: Evidence from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1244-1259.
    11. Ramadhar Singh, Randy & Clarke, Ricardo M. & Chadee, Xsitaaz T., 2023. "A just energy transition for a hydrocarbon rich SIDS," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    12. Milchram, Christine & Künneke, Rolf & Doorn, Neelke & van de Kaa, Geerten & Hillerbrand, Rafaela, 2020. "Designing for justice in electricity systems: A comparison of smart grid experiments in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    13. Parrish, Bryony & Heptonstall, Phil & Gross, Rob & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2020. "A systematic review of motivations, enablers and barriers for consumer engagement with residential demand response," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    14. Bradley, Peter & Coke, Alexia & Leach, Matthew, 2016. "Financial incentive approaches for reducing peak electricity demand, experience from pilot trials with a UK energy provider," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 108-120.
    15. Sunikka-Blank, Minna & Galvin, Ray, 2021. "Single parents in cold homes in Europe: How intersecting personal and national characteristics drive up the numbers of these vulnerable households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    16. Öhrlund, Isak & Schultzberg, Mårten & Bartusch, Cajsa, 2019. "Identifying and estimating the effects of a mandatory billing demand charge," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 885-895.
    17. Okushima, Shinichiro, 2021. "Energy poor need more energy, but do they need more carbon? Evaluation of people's basic carbon needs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    18. He, Yongxiu & Wang, Bing & Wang, Jianhui & Xiong, Wei & Xia, Tian, 2012. "Residential demand response behavior analysis based on Monte Carlo simulation: The case of Yinchuan in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 230-236.
    19. Belaïd, Fateh, 2018. "Exposure and risk to fuel poverty in France: Examining the extent of the fuel precariousness and its salient determinants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 189-200.
    20. Dong, Jun & Jiang, Yuzheng & Liu, Dongran & Dou, Xihao & Liu, Yao & Peng, Shicheng, 2022. "Promoting dynamic pricing implementation considering policy incentives and electricity retailers’ behaviors: An evolutionary game model based on prospect theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:151:y:2021:i:c:s0301421521000677. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.