In the perspective of smart grids, 'smart' electricity metres are distributed in European households. When households possess an immediate feedback on their consumption, it is usually stated that they can save between 5 and 15% of their electricity. How households learn to reduce their consumption is hardly ever addressed. In order to know whether 15% saving is a limit or not, it is necessary to understand what people do and learn with the use of an electricity monitor. This question is related to the way the societal energy transition could be achieved. Electricity is invisible, but it is produced, transported and consumed through material devices. This paper explores the dimension of material culture in household energy consumption through the introduction of electricity monitors in different types of households. Through a social experiment, we investigate both how households appropriate an electricity monitor and what they learn when using it. The paper addresses the question of appropriation of such monitors and how it is related to different dimensions: comfort, values, knowledge, skills, material culture. On the basis of an original protocol that intends to interfere as little as possible with users, we installed different metres in 21 Belgian households (including low-income households) and collected data on energy consumption, material culture (appliances, heating system, etc.), different representations of energy, energy-using practices and the effects induced by the introduction of the monitor. We have observed that the metre can change electricity perception, but that only households already interested or involved in energy savings are willing to use and learn with the monitor. We suggest that these devices should accompany a deeper transformation of the 'culture of energy', but they have to become much 'smarter' if their aim is to support more sustainable energy consumption patterns.
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ABSTRACT. The persistence of current societal problems has given rise to a quest for transformative social innovations. As social innovation actors seek to become change makers, it has been suggested that they need to play into impactful macrodevelopments or "game-changers". Here, we aim to deepen the understanding of the social innovation agency in these transformation games. We analyze assumptions about the game metaphor, invoking insights from actor-network theory. The very emergence of transformation games is identified as a crucial but easily overlooked issue. As explored through the recent electricity blackout threat in Belgium, some current transformation games are populated with largely passive players. This illustrative case demonstrates that socially innovative agency cannot be presupposed. In some transformation games, the crucial game-changing effect is to start the game by activating the players.
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