IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - 59

small scale and deal with local community issues. Upscaling very often leads to problems in terms of the management
and generalizability of the project.

Policies to Enhance Flexibility
Government or regulatory intervention has a role to play
in supporting consumer flexibility. The elements necessary to achieve more flexible energy demand from consumers, such as installing smart appliances and smart meters
and negotiating contracts that include provisions for automated DR, are likely to require policy support to facilitate
their introduction.
Many governments have introduced mandates to ensure
that steps are being taken to stimulate flexibility behavior.
These can involve mandating the rollout of a technology
that facilitates consumer flexibility such as smart appliances or smart meters (see Figure 5) or providing subsidies
on investments in solar panels or heat pumps. The 2009
Electricity Directive recommended the rollout of smart
meters among European Union (EU) member states but
left deployment decisions up to the individual states. When
individual member states positively assessed the cost-benefit analysis of the rollout of smart meters, at least 80%
of consumers were expected to be equipped with smart
meters by 2020. However, the progress on the rollout of
smart meters across the EU shows a mixed picture: Finland,
Italy, and Sweden are advanced in their rollouts (installing 45 million meters), and another 13 states declared
their intention to proceed with rollouts, although they are
in different stages. In seven member states (Belgium, the
Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal,
and Slovakia) the cost-benefit analysis was negative or
inconclusive, implying that the rollout will be delayed or
not started. Four states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, and
Slovenia) have not conducted a cost-benefit analysis or
instituted any rollout plans as yet.
Alternatively, command-and-control policies may be
used to ban or discourage the use of less flexible technologies (for example, the interdiction of natural gas boilers
in buildings in Denmark since 2013 or the prohibition of
incandescent light bulbs in the EU since 2009), which may
indirectly encourage the introduction of more flexible technologies such as heat pumps (in the former case) and lightemitting diodes (in the latter case). Finally, some mandates
have been introduced to provide information to consumers
on their energy use and bills (e.g., via smart meters with
IHDs). But more static measures have also been taken, such
as the introduction of energy labels relating to the performance of buildings and a host of energy-using appliances.
DSM programs have been introduced in many countries
to facilitate more flexible consumer energy-using behavior. While the majority of existing DSM programs are utility-driven, policy interventions are required as well to 1)
encourage utilities to offer such programs and 2) facilitate
the appropriate price signals and information that make it
january/february 2017

worthwhile for a large percentage of consumers to sign up
for them, especially in jurisdictions where energy prices
are regulated.
Ultimately, the measures described here should be integrated, as far as possible, in the design of energy markets to
enhance consumers' flexibility. In other words, if consumer
flexibility is valued and incentivized in the market, it will
be more likely to occur-for example, through utility DR
and DSM programs or other intermediaries such as aggregators. There is also increasing recognition that DR involving customers changing their operating patterns can assist in
balancing electricity systems and gives transmission system
operators more flexible options.

Consumers' Acceptance of
Renewables and Energy Infrastructure
A topic that is often not considered when discussing the consumers' role in flexible energy systems is the public acceptance of renewables and energy infrastructure. However, we
believe this to be an important topic in this context. Major
infrastructure projects are often hindered or stopped by
public resistance and lack of consumer acceptance. Consequently, understanding consumer acceptance of renewable
energy sources and energy infrastructure is an important
precondition for the realization of a flexible energy system.
It is often assumed that lack of support for energy infrastructure is the result of a general resistance to change or
"not-in-my-back-yard" reaction. However, this view has been
criticized as simplistic and erroneous and is often used as an
excuse to ignore valid public objections. Instead, it is argued
that people do not resist change per se, but they resist change
for various, often valid, reasons such as increased costs and
exposure to risks and seeing limited or reduced benefits. The
(perceived) costs, risks, and benefits are steered by underlying psychological factors such as values and lifestyles as well
as attachment to place, personal identities, symbolic meanings, and emotions.
In addition, the communication process between consumers and the involved authorities and industries is very
important for encouraging consumer acceptance. If consumers trust the involved parties, they are much more likely to
accept the proposed infrastructure changes, especially when
they know little about them. Moreover, fair and transparent
procedures have been shown to increase acceptance levels,
thereby reducing the likelihood that lack of consumer acceptance will hinder the building of infrastructure needed for a
flexible energy system.
Compensation schemes may be used to strengthen public
acceptance of energy infrastructure-for example, by providing individual tax benefits or providing benefits for the
community that reduce local energy bills or create or expand
community facilities. Such communication and compensations schemes can be effective for increasing the acceptability of policies and energy infrastructure. However, there
may be some negative side effects if unintended messages
ieee power & energy magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017