Designing a Collaborative Governance Model for Energy Demand Management in Iran

Continuing to provide electricity services as a vital infrastructure of society requires the cooperation and participation of the consumers. Therefore, wasteful energy consumption or the inability to provide electricity, threatens the economic and social life of society. Given that governance is at the center of public policies, the participation of stakeholders with interests in energy supply can bring about many benefits to the country both in the short and long term. The purpose of managing electricity demand is to save energy and be able to meet the managed needs of electricity services in the country. Thus, the aim of this study is to design a participatory governance model for managing electricity demand in Iran. The research method employed was qualitative in terms of the data, and developmental and applied in terms of purpose. The participants in this study consisted of 9 managers and experts in electricity supply and demand in the country. They were selected by non-probability purposive sampling and their selection volume was determined based on theoretical saturation. Data collection was done through in-depth semi-structured interviews and data analysis was done using the content analysis technique by coding and extracting the content network. The results led to the identification of indicators of system context, factors affecting participation, participation, facilitator of participation and achievements of participation. Implementing a model developed in the country's electricity industry can have many benefits, such as, providing essential electricity supply, cost savings, environmental benefits, the economic efficiency of consumers and the generalizability of participatory models for solving public problems in the country.