System and method for utility management

A utility management device, comprising:

• an input for receiving a utility consumption signal for a premises;
• an output for outputting utility management information;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• monitor the input utility consumption signal for a change in magnitude;
• if a change is detected:
• identify an appliance event corresponding to the change by extracting one or more features from the input consumption signal and applying a classifier to a feature vector comprising the one or more features, wherein the classifier is configured to determine a probability that the change corresponds to each of a set of appliance events and the appliance event is identified as that with the highest probability;
• obtain information relating to the projected utility consumption of the appliance for an upcoming time period;
• update a projected utility consumption of the premises based on the obtained information;
• determine whether any projected stored and/or generated utility amount at the premises is sufficient for the projected utility consumption of the premises;
• if not sufficient, cause the device to output a request to receive a utility amount from one or more other premises connected to the premises via a communication network.