I'll add that I think it is the "minimum necessary" that causes a lot of political heat.  For me, brownouts (for non essential business and residential) don't sound so bad.  That's because I think: "I have other things I can do apart from use electricity 24 hours a day."  For others, the minimum is whatever they use currently plus 10% for all the extras they'd like to add in (computers, televisions, electric cars etc...)

That division might also partially break down into DeAnander's "left/right" and "technocrat/green"...it mixes the "I deserve as much as I can get--and can pay for"; "Don't make me eat cold porridge, this tech. is great, let's use it!"; "We're all doomed if we keep consuming this much!"; "We'd be happier if we switched off, wandered out, and got back into our bodies"...and all those many points between, beyond, and elsewhere.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.