In the transition from fossil fuels, the energy sector is facing an urgent transition to a more sustainable way of consuming energy and using power resources. In the coming 15-20 years, Sweden is looking to increase their need for electricity by 65%, which the infrastructure is not yet prepared to manage. During the energy crisis of 2022, the households managed to lower their consumption substantially, with high prices as the main incentive. However, this testified to their potential to be a part of future solutions in the energy sector. During the crisis, the use of digital services increased drastically, and the energy companies with, by far, the highest customer satisfaction rate were those utilizing data, algorithms and automatization in their value offers. The purpose of the study is therefore to deepen the understanding of how the usage of digital services in energy management supports the customer in lowering consumption, with the aim to provide industry recommendations on digitalization’s possibility to maintain or prolong the positive consumption effects. By conducting 23 semi-structured in-depth interviews with an explorative sample of house owners in southern Sweden. The results show that the use of digital services supported the customer by providing information on price and consumption, increasing energy awareness, creating second incentives to lower consumption and by automating energy management processes. Through theoretical analysis of previous research and the interview findings, this study proposes three overarching strategies of energy management derived from the energy crisis. Further analyzed through a sustainability lens, four industry recommendations for the sector's future digitalization and technology advancement are presented for involving the households in the transition to a sustainable energy consumption.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-61334 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | O'Bryan, Mikaela, Malmström, Peter |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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