Patent ID: 8538595

Claim:
A home appliance, comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processing unit that executes the instructions to store operating information over a time period, analyze the operating information to determine a future time frame when the home appliance can operate, communicate the future time frame to a power distributor that provides electrical power to the home appliance, receive from the power distributor a time to operate the home appliance during the future time frame, and operate the home appliance at the time received from the power distributor and with the electrical power received from the power distributor, wherein the power distributor determines the time that the home appliance will turn on to operate during the future time frame and transmits the time to a residential customer that has the home appliance such that the power distributor knows in advance the time that the home appliance will operate and an amount of power that the home appliance will consume during the future time frame, wherein the power distributor is one of a city, a village, a town, a municipality, a political subdivision of a state, and an electric utility company that sells electricity to residential and commercial customers including the residential customer that has the home appliance.