Agree, the answer is 'not really' as you do not know how bursty the load is, - but you may be able to use a bit of intelligence in the spying sense, if it is a building with folk in it with lights and lots of  small machines on all day, then it is likely to be pretty uniform, at least within working hours. A restaurant will have more cooking load at mealtimes and at the other extreme a nuclear test facility will do occasional big shots and probably ring up the electricity company to agree when is a good time to press the red button ..

But peak demand that worries the DNO does not really mean inrush surges of sub second duration, but demand over the time that substations heat up and street cable fuses blow. Now both of those can take 100% overload for some time, the transformer probably for an hour, the cables for some tens of minutes depending on size.

On a small scale we see the same effect on the house ring, so an apparent overload of the running of a toaster and a kettle together for breakfast is not an issue, but the same current for the tumble dryer and washer together for an hour sometimes is ...

Mike.

Agree, the answer is 'not really' as you do not know how bursty the load is, - but you may be able to use a bit of intelligence in the spying sense, if it is a building with folk in it with lights and lots of  small machines on all day, then it is likely to be pretty uniform, at least within working hours. A restaurant will have more cooking load at mealtimes and at the other extreme a nuclear test facility will do occasional big shots and probably ring up the electricity company to agree when is a good time to press the red button ..

But peak demand that worries the DNO does not really mean inrush surges of sub second duration, but demand over the time that substations heat up and street cable fuses blow. Now both of those can take 100% overload for some time, the transformer probably for an hour, the cables for some tens of minutes depending on size.

On a small scale we see the same effect on the house ring, so an apparent overload of the running of a toaster and a kettle together for breakfast is not an issue, but the same current for the tumble dryer and washer together for an hour sometimes is ...

Mike.