System for reduced peak power consumption by a cooking appliance

A power sharing method for reducing peak power consumption of a cooking appliance, said cooking appliance including at least one duty cycle controlled surface heating element and at least one oven heating element, wherein said at least one oven heating element is energized by a conventional 240 volt ac power supply, said method comprising:

• receiving and processing utility state signals by a controller, said signals being indicative of the operating state of an associated utility;
• associating said at least one oven heating element to a demand response switch switchable between a first state and a second state;
• and
• switching said demand response switch between said first and second state to selectively couple said at least one oven heating element to a first relatively high voltage power supply and a second relatively low voltage power supply respectively.

A power sharing system for reducing peak power consumption of a cooking appliance during an energy savings mode, said system comprising;

• a surface heating unit comprising at least one surface heating element operative according to a duty cycle;
• an oven cavity, having one or more oven heating elements;
• a controller configured to receive and process a signal indicative of a current utility state of an associated utility;
• and
• a demand response switching arrangement responsive to a signal received from said controller, and operative to selectively couple said one or more oven heating elements to a first power supply and a second power supply, in concert with the ON and OFF portions of said duty cycle.