Behaviour, Practice – Whatever? A theory-agnostic framework for describing and informing demand-side response

Different theoretical perspectives present diverse interpretations for why and how people may (or may not) be able to vary their electricity consumption patterns, and often propose different approaches to facilitating demand-side response (DSR). The framework set out here is suggested as a way of matching and marrying these various approaches with the goal of exploring how to achieve the maximum possible demand response which people are happy and able to provide. The framework is based around ‘electricity-relevant dimensions’, or factors which may be considered to be associated in some way with a person or people’s electricity use – activities engaged in, location, room temperature, and so on. Within each dimension, at any instant in time, certain states (such as ‘walking’ or ‘watching TV’ for activity) are more or less possible/acceptable than others for a variety of reasons. Effective DSR is understood as involving influencing adoption of those states with lower (or higher, as necessary) electricity outcomes at certain times, from a ‘phase space’ of possible options. This paper describes how the framework can be used to consider the role of DSR interventions with their roots in different theoretical positions, such as changes in material conditions or competencies (associated with social practice theory), or in the framing of messages to activate loss-aversion (behavioural economics). It is intended to prompt consideration of how such approaches (and their proponents) could work together to optimize the potential of DSR programmes and policies, and is illustrated throughout with real and hypothetical examples.