Energy management of dishwasher appliance

A control method for a dishwasher, comprising:

• receiving an energy signal from an associated energy supplying utility;
• from the energy signal, determining a state of the associated energy supplying utility, the state being indicative of at least peak and off-peak demand periods;
• operating the dishwasher in a normal mode during a determined off-peak demand period;
• operating the dishwasher in an energy savings mode during a determined peak demand period by determining a logical stopping point between consecutive operating cycles and advancing through one or more operating cycles until the logical stopping point is reached, wherein the logical stopping point is based on a desired balance between (i) dishwasher performance and (ii) cost savings/energy savings, and when the logical stopping point is determined, selectively deactivating at least one active power consuming function of the dishwasher to prevent the dishwasher from running a next operating cycle in the energy savings mode;
• and
• returning to the normal mode after the peak demand period is over.