Governing flexibility: Trust, time and agency in automated demand-side flexibility

• Automation of demand-side technologies is being considered for decarbonisation.
• Automation requires trust in the energy system and its actors and institutions.
• Trust in the energy system is very low due to past institutional performance.
• Building trust requires users to retain a sense of agency in decision-making.
• Consumer protections can reduce vulnerability and create a trusted system.

Aligning electricity demand with renewable energy supply helps lower decarbonisation costs. This can be done through demand-side flexibility (DSF) markets, where users are rewarded for shifting their energy use to times of high renewable availability. However, participation is often limited due to complex incentives and users’ limited ability or willingness to shift demand. Automation offers a solution but depends on users trusting the service providers—trust that is often lacking.

We propose a conceptual framework connecting user time commitment and system enabled agency, examining how this influences trust in energy governance. We consider how consumer and competition policies can reduce user vulnerability and shift where trust is placed. Using secondary data, we apply this framework to three case studies—Australia, the UK, and New York State—analysing how governance processes support user trust, reduce vulnerability, or both.

Should trust be a desired outcome, policy should be designed to reduce vulnerability by providing strong protections. Equally, users should be able to “trade” time to build trust in the system by participating in system governance, creating agency within automation. However, trust needs to be both deserved and maintained over time by the energy institutions for the acceptance of the automation of demand-side technologies.