The 2018 conference will focus on the changing role of the consumer in the energy system, regarded by many in the industry as one of the big transitional issues of the coming decade.

Energy use in the industrial age has largely been a passive affair. Both businesses and household consumers have flicked switches, turned knobs or started engines without knowing or wanting to know much about how the energy is being delivered to them, provided that it is available to them when they want it, and that it doesn’t cost too much. There is now every sign that this characteristic of energy use is about to change. This two-day research conference will consider how the interactions between consumers and energy systems will be affected by: environmental, social and economic priorities; new energy supply and use technologies; the marriage of energy networks and communication technologies; innovative business models; and changing consumer energy aspirations and practices. Developments in the UK, wider EU and further afield may show similar trends, but there could also be national and regional differences depending on cultural and market contexts.