Twenty percent of the total energy consumption in the Netherlands comes from household electricity consumption. This comes from household electric appliances whose number has grown in recent years. The paper explores the effect of smart meter introduction, appliance efficiency and consumer behaviour on reducing electricity consumption in the Netherlands. It does so by combining two perspectives: a sociotechnical approach and a bottom up simulation approach. The range of scenarios explored through simulation in the paper provides an understanding of the interplay between efficiency, smart meter diffusion and consumer behaviour. The results show their effect on electricity consumption and suggest that further effort is required to control and reduce it. Insights from the paper suggest that future studies should disaggregate with respect to a number of factors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.