Summary Load management (LM) is supposed to have a vital role in future energy management systems. This article presents an overview and comparison of LM techniques along with related technologies and implementation challenges in smart grid. The article also covers consumer and utility concerns in context of LM to enhance readers' intuition about the topic. Two major categories of LM techniques, incentive-based and dynamic pricing-based schemes, have been discussed and compared. Most commonly used incentive-based direct load control is elaborated in detail. Dynamic pricing-based energy consumption scheduling schemes, featuring peak load reduction and consumers' energy cost minimization at residential level, are also emphasized. Furthermore, the article includes a description of dynamic pricing-based home energy management and associated optimization techniques as well as comparison of the latest schemes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.