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This paper discusses the affordability of water and energy supply. It first shows that, although the number of disconnections decreases, the number of households with utility debt increases. It then relates these debt problems with the quality of life of the households concerned; many different situations can be observed. Finally, the paper examines institutional responses to the problem in two European countries, France and Great-Britain. The merits of the French, more «institutional» approach are compared to those of the English, more « technological » one.

The term macro-systems techniques (mst) makes reference to a tool developed during the 19th century (and then perfected in the 20th century) on the same technological basis as that used to create the major communications and transportation networks. This tool served to furnish a model of stability and coordination of relationships among the three concurrent revolutions: economic, political and what J. Beniger has qualified as « control » (the control revolution refers to the set of informational tools for regulating the various industrial revolutions taking place). This model, within which information and communication technologies (ict) play a substantial role, has tended to become destabilized by the rising influence of a rationale favoring deregulation, internationalization and technological sophistication. Such a rationale is aimed at benefiting tools which can now supposedly provide for the most efficient regulation of relations between the latest archetypes of the economic and political revolutions, by relying on the archetype of the third (or « control ») revolution, namely the ict. This article is intended to explore and better grasp all of the parameters pertaining to such a scenario.

The ensptt school's permanent « Management and Organization » review committee, which is composed of academics, experts and corporate leaders, chose as its study topic for the 1997/1998 session the structural evolution taking place within utility companies. The committee focused heavily on identifying both the causes and consequences of the appearance within such companies of an organizational structure built around branch offices which has been gradually replacing the centralized, function-oriented structures. On the basis of the committee's work, once the organizational parameters which lead to the development of branch-like structures have been elucidated, it is possible to analyze how and to what extent this type of organization challenges the principles behind the companies' creation and operations. The observation then becomes clear that these new organizational forms are nothing more than a revised reflection, adapted to the current context, of these companies' propensity to position themselves « in-between », a residual characteristic deserving today of recognition as perhaps the cornerstone of a true identity.