Repoliticising users in energy transitions: A critique of dominant ideas and their effect in policy and practice

Review article, 2026

Energy studies as a field is, due to its strong grounding in engineering and economics, overall dominated by reductive ideas around the role of people in energy systems. In particular, the diversity and agency of local level energy users is commonly overlooked and poorly understood, with consequences for energy transition policy and practice. This conceptual review brings together critiques of simplistic and idealised portrayals of energy users, who they are and what roles they are thought to play in energy system transformation. It forefronts studies that pay explicit attention to power relationships and injustice through a critical theory lens, in particular feminists, intersectional, decolonial and indigenous power theories. The review deconstructs the concept of energy user and contrasts such dominant ideas with alternative perspectives. It employs framing as analytical tool for sense-making and reflection around the power relationships that have shaped how global energy systems function and the role of the users in reshaping, resisting and reframing these systems. The conceptual analysis illustrates the myriad ways in which energy users can be framed and shows why these representations matter for knowledge-making, practice and policy aiming at low-carbon transitions. We identify current knowledge gaps and future research frontiers in proposing framings and user-oriented interventions which embrace rather than smooth over the heterogeneity, messiness and politics of user roles in energy systems and transitions.