User Empowerment by Design: a New Domestic Electricity Consumption Model. A Case Study of Young Urban Tenants

The energy sector paradigm with the power station on the one end, and the passive consumer on the other end, is becoming obsolete. This paper offers a rethink of domestic electricity consumption: from the worldview where the electricity provider is the sole manager of the process via its interfaces, and acting out of self-interest, to a broad view of sustainable development. The domestic electricity consumption management system presented in this paper deals with the Democratisation of managing electricity consumption, and dismantling an information monopoly by transferring knowledge and responsibility to the users, thus increasing the possibility for sustainable consumption. Design and design thinking methods are the central tools of this research, aiming to create a behaviour changing solution for the domestic electricity consumers through a new service that will empower them by increasing independence, establish a sense of fairness, and enable conscious decision-making while creating benefits for other stakeholders. The system connects new applications and existing models, generating a whole that is larger than the sum of its parts.