1. A system for a plurality of different electric load types, the system comprising: a plurality of sensors structured to sense a voltage signal and a current signal for each of the different electric loads; and a processor structured to: acquire a voltage and current waveform from the sensors for a corresponding one of the different electric load types; calculate a power or current RMS profile of the waveform; quantize the power or current RMS profile into a set of quantized state-values; evaluate a state-duration for each of the quantized state-values; evaluate a plurality of state-types based on the power or current RMS profile and the quantized state-values; generate a state-sequence that describes a corresponding finite state machine model of a generalized load start-up or transient profile for the corresponding one of the different electric load types; and identify the corresponding one of the different electric load types.