-The classified measurement of household load can make home users keep abreast of the electricity consumption in their home and guide them use electricity reasonably, and at the same time strengthen the demand side management (DSM). Load identification is the base of the classified measurement of household load. According to the shortcomings of the existing load identification which often use the steady state characteristics as the signature, and considering the uniqueness of the transient characteristics of household load, a method was proposed to recognize the time it turns on or off, and then measure the electricity of each load based on Minkowski distance used transient waveform of the active power and reactive power as the signature. Firstly, set up a template library as the comparative standard to recognize. And then calculate the matching degree between the waveform acquired and in template library to determine at the moments which load turns on or off or no load changes its state. Afterwards the time each load used is obtained. Finally, on the basis of the use of time of each load, calculate its power consumption. The process of the method is simple, and the result by measured data has proved the method has high accuracy and feasibility. It can be used for classified measurement of household load for smart meter.