Paper short abstract:

New ‘smart’ metering technologies and associated software enable a more dense, spatially and temporally differentiated view of patterns of energy use. Yet, what does it take to make this ‘smart’ energy data meaningful? Preliminary thoughts and research findings are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

New 'smart' metering technologies and associated software have made it possible to know energy consumption in new spatial and temporal terms. The mundane world of metering is being transformed by organisations that are marketing hardware, software and analytical services that can enable a much more dense, spatially and temporally differentiated view of patterns of energy use. The 'smart' meters and their associated milieu of infrastructures of different forms, and devices of knowledge management, data processing and data representations can then be said to give birth to 'new' data on energy use, in which this flow of data across 'smarter' energy grids enables new ways of knowing and evaluating energy consumption as well as generating new possibilities for the active governance of energy demand. Yet, what does it take to make this data meaningful? While this kind of energy data is attributed value because of its (imagined/presumed) capacity to govern energy demand and enable participation in energy markets, how does this play out in practice? And in line with the track's focus on the birth and death of data, does 'smart' energy data ever become 'stuck' or 'dead' data? (cf. Dawn Nafus 2014). In this paper, we present preliminary thoughts and findings from a research project on the governance of energy demand in 'smarter' local grids within large organisations in the UK.