Flex›Source - DNV Metoder Kunddialog Ei (2021)

Source - DNV Metoder Kunddialog Ei (2021)

Consultant report commissioned by Ei (Energimarknadsinspektionen). DNV GL (now DNV), September 2021. Comparative review of methods used by 12 international energy regulators for conducting customer dialogue — primarily as regulatory process methodology for Ei, with limited direct flexibility content.

Bibliographic details

  • Title: Konsultrapport: Metoder för kunddialog
  • Author/consultant: DNV GL (now DNV)
  • Commissioning body: Ei (Energimarknadsinspektionen)
  • Date: September 2021
  • Length: ~130 pages
  • Context: Part of Ei’s work on improving its engagement methodology with electricity market consumers; not a flexibility market study

Scope and method

The report takes a comparative case study approach. It reviews 12 international energy regulators and consumer organisations across Europe and beyond, examining:

  • What structured consumer dialogue methods they use (surveys, citizen panels, deliberative forums, co-design workshops)
  • How they integrate consumer input into regulatory decisions
  • What governance structures enable effective dialogue
  • Lessons applicable to Ei’s own consumer engagement work

The 12 entities studied:

  1. Ofgem (Great Britain) — Citizens Advice formal partnership; customer engagement groups; consumer vulnerability framework
  2. CRU (Commission for Regulation of Utilities, Ireland)
  3. ACM (Autoriteit Consument en Markt, Netherlands)
  4. E-Control (Austria) — electricity market regulator
  5. ARERA (Italy) — Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente
  6. AER (Australian Energy Regulator)
  7. OEB (Ontario Energy Board, Canada)
  8. National Grid ESO (Great Britain) — DSO/TSO operator perspective
  9. Cadent Gas (Great Britain) — distribution network operator perspective
  10. BEUC (European Consumer Organisation) — pan-European advocacy perspective
  11. Citizens Advice (Great Britain) — consumer representation organisation
  12. BIT (Behavioural Insights Team) — applied behavioural science in energy policy

Key themes

Deliberative methods

Several regulators use structured deliberative forums — not just surveys but multi-session engagement where consumers develop informed opinions through learning and discussion before giving input. Ofgem’s customer engagement groups for network price controls are the most developed example. These go beyond satisfaction surveys to co-designing acceptable trade-offs between service quality and price.

Consumer vulnerability

Multiple regulators (Ofgem, CRU, ARERA) have developed structured consumer vulnerability frameworks — definitions of which households face disproportionate harm from market or service failures, and processes for ensuring these consumers’ views are captured in regulatory decisions. This is relevant to flexibility design because vulnerable consumers may have less capacity to adapt to dynamic pricing.

Behavioural science integration

The BIT case study covers the application of behavioural insights to energy policy — defaults, framing, social norms, and commitment devices as alternatives or complements to price signals. In the flexibility context, this connects to Demand Response design: behavioral nudges can mobilise flexibility from consumers who won’t respond to price alone.

Regulator independence and dialogue

A recurring finding: effective consumer dialogue requires structural independence from both the industries being regulated and short-term political pressure. Regulators that have formal statutory consumer panels (independent of the regulator itself) get more credible consumer input.

Relation to flexibility content

This report’s direct contribution to the flexibility knowledge base is limited. It is a regulatory process methodology document, not a study of flexibility markets, consumer behavior toward demand response, or technical standards.

Indirect relevance:

  • The vulnerability framework material informs how flexibility product design should account for households that cannot participate in dynamic pricing
  • The BIT behavioural insights material connects to the behavioral change dimension of demand response identified in Source - IVL Konsumentperspektiv Efterfrågeflexibilitet (2023)
  • The international comparisons provide context for how Ei approaches its consumer engagement role as Sweden’s electricity market regulator

Relation to existing wiki content

  • Ei: Documents Ei’s investment in improving its consumer engagement methodology as a regulatory function; international benchmarking context
  • Demand Response: Vulnerability framework and behavioural insights material as process context (low priority relative to AFRY and Ramboll)

Data gaps

  • Whether Ei adopted any specific methods from this review into its formal regulatory processes — the report recommends approaches but the outcome is unknown