Social Networking Reduces Peak Power Consumption in Smart Grid

A method of operating a system to reduce peak power consumption of a plurality of users. The method may comprise forming at least one cluster of the plurality of users based on connections within a social network system between the plurality of users, and energy usage patterns of the plurality of users; and scheduling jobs for at least one user within the at least one cluster to reduce peak power used within the at least one cluster. A method of scheduling jobs that consume power for a cluster of users. The cluster may be formed in part based on connections within a social network system. Membership in a cluster may be further based on energy usage patterns. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that cause at least one processor to perform a method for forming a cluster and/or scheduling jobs for users within the cluster.