Smart metering demand management programs: Challenging the comfort and cleanliness habitus of households

Abstract

Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field and capital, this paper outlines how smart metering demand management programs could be redesigned to bring together the competing fields of resource management and domestic life. Comfort and cleanliness expectations, which are ingrained in the habitus of householders and the field of domestic life, are often overlooked in demand management programs, which focus instead on making existing and evolving expectations more efficient. This paper draws on preliminary findings from qualitative research activities with householders who received consumption feedback through an in-home display, and/or variable price signals - both enabled by smart meters. The paper offers insights for designers of interactive demand management strategies about how to go beyond achieving efficiency benefits in the home in order to fundamentally change expectations and norms ingrained in the habitus.