A utility management system in communication with a plurality of customer meters, each suitable for being positioned at one of a plurality of customer premises, each of the customer meters being adapted to generate a customer load profile indicating an overall load of a plurality of appliances of different types at a customer premises, and comprising communication functionality for communicating said customer load profile to the utility management system, the utility management system being adapted to: receive said customer load profile from a customer meter; compare at least part of said customer load profile with a reference pattern corresponding to each of said appliances; determine, based on said comparison, for a predetermined time period, times in which each of said appliances is operating at the customer premises; and determine an amount of electricity used by each of said appliances; characterised in that the utility management system is further adapted to: generate an operating appliance model based on the times in the predetermined time period during which said appliances are operating at the customer premises; and wherein the utility management system comprises a demand response system configured to: input to the operating appliance model a selected time; receive as input from the operating appliance model the appliances operating at the customer premises at the selected time; and select an appliance to be turned off in order to reduce the load at the customer premises. receive said customer load profile from a customer meter; compare at least part of said customer load profile with a reference pattern corresponding to each of said appliances; determine, based on said comparison, for a predetermined time period, times in which each of said appliances is operating at the customer premises; and determine an amount of electricity used by each of said appliances; characterised in that the utility management system is further adapted to: generate an operating appliance model based on the times in the predetermined time period during which said appliances are operating at the customer premises; and wherein the utility management system comprises a demand response system configured to: input to the operating appliance model a selected time; receive as input from the operating appliance model the appliances operating at the customer premises at the selected time; and select an appliance to be turned off in order to reduce the load at the customer premises. generate an operating appliance model based on the times in the predetermined time period during which said appliances are operating at the customer premises; and wherein the utility management system comprises a demand response system configured to: input to the operating appliance model a selected time; receive as input from the operating appliance model the appliances operating at the customer premises at the selected time; and select an appliance to be turned off in order to reduce the load at the customer premises. input to the operating appliance model a selected time; receive as input from the operating appliance model the appliances operating at the customer premises at the selected time; and select an appliance to be turned off in order to reduce the load at the customer premises.