This paper analyses the residential load characteristics by questionnaire survey and the relevant literatures,and introduces the economic mechanism of consumers'response on electricity price.Then this paper studies the load growth rate at the point of price changed according to the historical data of a typical residential neighborhood in Nanjing,and analyses the polymerization characteristics of residential electricity.This paper analyses the load growth rate of many areas and introduces the peak-to-valley ratio.Last,this paper concludes the residential load characteristics and influencial factors,and analyses the reasons and puts forward some suggestions.