The past year has been one of continued growth, deepened collaboration, and increasing policy relevance for the Users TCP. As energy systems evolve at pace, the importance of understanding and integrating user behaviour into policy and system design has never been clearer. Our work over 2025/26 demonstrates both the maturity of our programme and the growing demand for behavioural insights across the international energy community.

Looking back on the past year, a standout theme is impact, across our member countries and beyond. This year’s report highlights some of the ways that our members have benefitted from international collaboration, from programme implementation in New Zealand, to the development of standards to plan, deliver and evaluate energy behaviour programme in Canada and the piloting of peer-to-peer energy trading in California. A standout impact this year has been the uptake of the Users TCP Behavioural Insights Policy Toolkit as one of the foundations for the European Commission’s new Energy Behaviour Forum. This initiative marks a significant step forward in embedding evidence-based behavioural approaches into municipal policy making across Europe, and is a clear signal that our work is influencing decision-making at the highest levels.

We continue to evolve our research programme. This year saw the successful completion of two major Tasks. The GO P2P Task has advanced our understanding of local energy markets (LEMs), highlighting both their potential benefits and the complexity of designing models that work across diverse contexts. The Task’s Case Study Repository is a great resource for policy makers looking to support community energy projects and the integration of LEMs. Meanwhile, the EmPOWERing All Task has shed critical light on gender and energy, underlining the need for better data, more inclusive design processes, and a shift away from entrenched biases within the energy system. I am delighted that the Task began a second phase last year on this important topic.

We expanded our research portfolio with three new Tasks and projects last year, reflecting emerging priorities and opportunities in the energy transition, including inclusivity, system integration, and the role of users in delivering flexibility. Public engagement is a central theme across our new work, with new phases of our Tasks on the social license to automate, focused on flexible energy use, and energy transition infrastructure, this time looking into how to engage on hydrogen, carbon capture and advanced nuclear installations. At the same time, our Users TCP Academy continues to thrive, with monthly webinars and now offering more than 100 recordings, accessible via our dedicated platform. This growing repository of knowledge is an important resource for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners alike.

Meanwhile, our Executive Committee (ExCo) launched a new project on heat decarbonisation narratives which explores how communication and framing can accelerate change in how households heat and cool their homes, an area that lies at the heart of many households’ daily lives. Our ExCo projects are a great way of doing rapid evidence assessments, generating insights for policy makers and open the door for future research. Our joint project with the 4E TCP on appliance flexibility delivery capability has further reinforced a central message: while technical potential is significant, behavioural factors are crucial in determining real-world outcomes. This insight provides a strong foundation for policymakers seeking to unlock demand-side flexibility.

Collaboration remains at the heart of our activities. We were proud to co-organise the BEHAVE conference in December 2025, supporting the EnR network and the French Ecological Agency, ADEME, reaffirming BEHAVE’s position as Europe’s leading forum on energy behaviour. Our partnerships with other TCPs, the IEA Secretariat, and organisations such as J-PAL and EnR have enabled us to extend our reach and ensure that behavioural insights are integrated across a wide range of energy topics.

Our membership remains stable, with continued engagement from a diverse group of countries. While we note with regret the withdrawal of Australia, we are pleased to welcome the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) as a new sponsor, consolidating our network in North America and strengthening our links with the energy industry; the design and implementation of user-centred utility programmes are key elements of equitable energy transitions. 

Looking ahead, the pipeline of new work is both ambitious and timely. Planned Tasks on energy behaviour systems mapping, targeted energy poverty interventions and mis/disinformation reflect the evolving landscape of the energy transition. Our next ExCo project will explore the balance between regulation and incentives in accessing end-use flexibility, and we will consider next steps building on our successful collaboration on appliance flexibility.

As Chair, I am continually encouraged by the commitment and expertise of our members, sponsors, and participants. The Users TCP is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between technical potential and human reality. By keeping users at the centre of the energy transition, we can help ensure that it is not only efficient and effective, but also fair and inclusive.

I would like to thank all those who have contributed to our work over the past year and look forward to another year of impactful collaboration.