Patent ID: 7738999

Claim:
A system for controlling electrically-powered devices in an electrical network, comprising: a first transceiver located at a customer premise and coupled to a meter and further having an identifier storable in a memory coupled to the first transceiver, the first transceiver being configured to wirelessly communicate bidirectionally according to the identifier with a control center via one or more additional wireless bidirectional transceivers, at least one of the one or more additional wireless bidirectional transceivers being a site controller; a processor coupled to the first transceiver and to a controller, the controller further coupled to a power switch of an electrically-powered device of a plurality of electrically powered devices and operable to exclusively control the operation of the electrically-powered device from at least a state of powered on to a state of powered off when the processor receives a signal associated with reducing electricity consumption at the customer premise; and a notification device coupled to the processor and operable to provide information corresponding to electricity consumption for the customer premise, wherein the provided information is utilized, by a management controller, to determine, based on a specified demand change, which of the plurality of electrically powered devices to shut-off, and wherein the controller is configured to receive a signal from the management controller specifically indicating which of the plurality of electrically powered devices to shut-off, wherein the first transceiver is further configured to monitor return signals from the meter to determine that an actual demand change has occurred and wherein the determined demand change is added to demand changes from other transceivers to determine an aggregate demand change such that a difference between the aggregate demand change and a specified demand change is compared with a predetermined threshold.