Demand-side management in the electricity sector : Implications for town planning in the UK

This paper examines the relationship between the land use planning system and two innovative demand-side management (DSM) initiatives in the UK electricity sector. In contrast to conventional supply-orientated approaches to infrastructure management, DSM encourages the utility to consider the role of energy conservation and efficiency measures to avoid or delay the need for new investment in supply-side infrastructure. Although it might be expected that DSM measures would require much closer coordination between land use and electricity network planning, there was little evidence of the development of these links in the case studies. Instead the paper concludes that, through the adoption of DSM approaches to network management, utilities are developing their own ideas about the socioeconomic and spatial development of the territories they serve with little connection back to traditional land use planning processes.