Empowering consumers: challenges and opportunities [Guest editorial]

Abstract

The idea of giving individuals or households more control over their energy consumption, costs, and choices has been labeled “energy consumer empowerment.” It does not come without its regulatory challenges, which are the focus of this special issue of IEEE Power and Energy magazine. Our aim in this issue is to discuss regulatory and market tools and solutions to optimize end-users’ engagement in the decarbonization of power systems, based on practical experience. This issue features a carefully selected international group of authors with broad experience from both academia and industry, focusing on the regulatory and market challenges that lie ahead. We asked them to focus on the challenges that the goal of consumer empowerment poses for regulation and the barriers that need to be overcome. We asked them to be provocative in their writing, to stimulate a pragmatic debate about what has been learned and what is missing.