Short story about not switching energy (5)
I believe the answer is:
conte
'short story' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'about not switching energy' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa').
'switching' indicates an anagram.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2).
'not' with letters rearranged gives 'ont'.
'c'+'ont'+'e'='CONTE'
(Other definitions for conte that I've seen before include "former Chelsea manager" , "Short story" , "Medieval narrative tale" .)