Emergency Management in the Swedish Electricity Grid from a Household Perspective

This article focuses on households' action space and perceived responsibilities during power outages, and on how municipalities and grid companies understand their own and the households' responsibilities and action space. Results from a case study in the county of Östergötland showed that household responsibilities in terms of preparedness for outages were unclear to the actors. Both municipalities and grid companies expected households to be somewhat prepared. Households, however, believed that they were not responsible for being prepared for power outages, even though they need to be prepared to survive. Often the preparedness concerns material factors, such as investment in auxiliary generating capacity for use in case of outages. How the households perceive outages is important for their capacity to handle and feel comfortable in such situations.