For years, the energy industry has operated under a flawed assumption, according to digital sociologist Yolande Strengers. She argues that it expects consumers to behave like miniature versions of energy professionals—engineers and economists—when managing their household energy use.
However, Professor Strengers, who leads the energy team at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University, highlighted this fundamental misunderstanding is a major obstacle to the renewable energy transition, in a recent episode of the SwitchedOn Australia podcast.
Rather than being driven purely by cost or technical know-how, household energy use is shaped by habits, routines, values, and social norms. While the industry remains fixated on market research and surveys, Strengers specialises in ethnographic research—studying how energy fits into daily life—and has consistently highlighted the problems with the way the energy industry thinks about consumers.
“Not everybody is going to or needs to care about energy in the way that the energy sector does,” Strengers points out.
The Industry’s Misguided Consumer Focus
Despite the recent emphasis on ‘putting consumers at the centre’ of the energy transition, Strengers argues that the industry’s vision remains largely self-serving.
“It is very much an industry-led vision. It’s not one that consumers themselves have sort of come up with.”
The energy sector’s approach is still focused on engaging consumers in ways that serve industry needs—such as managing data and energy consumption—rather than understanding what people actually want.
“I think that’s the wrong way around,” she says.
The engineering mindset ingrained in the energy sector means most problems get solved with technology. But what’s often missing is a social science perspective.
Strengers argues the energy system must adapt not just to new technologies but also to broader social shifts.
“There’s a whole range of social shifts occurring that are still quite peripheral to the energy sector’s planning and forward visioning.”
The market-driven also nature of the industry limits more creative solutions. While economic incentives such as pricing mechanisms can help, they are not necessarily the most effective tools for consumer engagement.
“There are actually far greater opportunities in engaging people around their values, their priorities—getting them to think about energy sharing rather than energy trading.”
The Persistent Myth of ‘Resource Man’
Strengers has long critiqued the industry’s reliance on an outdated consumer model she calls “Resource Man,” a concept she developed two decades ago while researching smart meters.
“Back then, the industry was fixated on this idealized consumer—someone who is tech-savvy, highly responsive to price signals, and an individual operator.”
Despite changes in the sector, this flawed assumption still lingers. “There’s this idea that if you give people more data, more control, they will suddenly change how they use energy. But most people don’t want to be energy managers. They want their homes to be comfortable, and their appliances to work when they need them.”
The rollout of smart meters is a prime example of this disconnect. The industry expected households to respond to time-of-use pricing and shift their energy use accordingly.
“What we found was that most people didn’t engage with the data at all. They either didn’t understand it or didn’t have the time to act on it.”
Rethinking Consumer Energy Engagement
The gap between industry expectations and real-world behaviour is especially problematic in areas like demand flexibility and virtual power plants. Many people are not interested in micro-managing their energy for financial gain or even environmental goals.
“I just caution against assuming that we need to get everybody using technology in a particular way,” Strengers says. She believes technology needs to align with consumers’ existing routines and values.
“Technology needs to be what people are comfortable using and be aligned with things that support other priorities in their lives.”
Strengers’ research highlights a growing interest in energy sharing, where households distribute excess energy to neighbours or essential services like hospitals and community centres, rather than simply selling it on the market.
“It’s much more palatable and appealing to people than just thinking about a very transactional exchange of energy as a commodity,” she says.
The Need for a National Energy Vision
Beyond industry misconceptions, Strengers points to a broader issue: the lack of a central, trusted voice for energy in Australia.
“One of the things we’re lacking in Australia at the moment is a central vision and voice for energy in the country,” she says. “We need a trusted body that is known as being the national voice for the energy system in Australia.”
She emphasizes that the energy transition involves more than just achieving net zero—it requires a clear vision of what the future will look like for households. Many of the industry’s strategies, such as controlling hot water systems, EV charging times, and battery discharging, require at least passive consent from consumers.
The Digital Energy Futures Project
Strengers recently co-led a major Australian Research Council project, Digital Energy Futures, which examined how Australians will live in the future and what that means for energy forecasting. The research is now being scaled up in partnership with Race for 2030.
Instead of simply predicting what the energy system will look like in 2050, the research flips the question: “What will our lives look like in 2050, and what does that mean for energy demand?”
Strengers hopes this research will help the industry embed consumer insights into service and product design, as well as energy forecasting. “Forecasting at the moment is very much driven by historical and current trends and by technologies that already exist or are known to be potentially important for energy demand,” she says. “This kind of work helps us think about future technologies that are going to be significant.”
A Cultural Shift in the Energy Industry
For the energy transition to succeed, Strengers argues, the sector needs a cultural shift. Ultimately, she believes the transition is not just a technological challenge, but a social one.
The energy industry’s success depends on designing services and products that align with how people actually live, rather than expecting them to fundamentally change their behaviour to fit industry models. Only by meeting consumers where they are will the industry unlock the full potential of a renewable energy future.
You can hear the full interview with Yolande Strengers on the SwitchedOn Australia podcast.
Anne Delaney is the host of the SwitchedOn podcast and our Electrification Editor, She has had a successful career in journalism (the ABC and SBS), as a documentary film maker, and as an artist and sculptor.
