Repairing the Smart Grid: A Study of How Local and Post Local Repair Work Connect ICT Systems, Users and Smart Technologies

This article contributes to the growing literature about repair work. Classic studies of organizational work described technical repair work as situated and local, while more recent studies argue that technical problems can be lifted out of their context via new technologies such as information and communication systems (ICT). The article draws on observations of field technicians repairing the connectivity between ‘smart’ technology and ICT systems: an arrangement that allows so-called aggregators to automate the heat of private households. Our study shows how local and post local repair work co-exists and contributes to maintain connectivity (and social order) between appliances in users houses, local technology and ICT systems. First, local repair work in households maintain connectivity between ‘smart’ technology and ICT systems. Second, technicians closely document installations and repair work conducted in the individual houses. Third, this documentation together with technicians intimate knowledge of users, their practices and homes, allow some repair work to be lifted out of context.