Ever since we moved into our home, our energy bills have fluctuated wildly. I knew to expect that the gas bill would be higher in the winter because of the heater and our electric bill would be higher in the summer because of the air conditioner. But there are other small things at play that I didn’t consider.
How much power specific devices use has been a surprise to me. Living in apartments for years, I rarely had to worry about this. A few of my apartments didn’t even require me to pay for electricity, as it was lumped into the rent. But as a homeowner, and one who has decided to utilize many smart devices in his home, I’ve started paying closer attention to our energy bills to see how we can save some money each month. One device in particular became of real interest.
Using an energy monitoring smart plug has really helped me
It gives me in-depth info on how much power devices consume
As a tech writer, I’ve tested many smart home products over the years. After testing them, many of them are items I don’t end up incorporating into my home. But a few have become staple smart home devices that my family and I use every day. I’ve even gone out and purchased more of a few of them because I liked them so much.
I bought a few Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Minis after testing them a few years back. I like these smart plugs because they have a slender build, so you can actually stack two of them to fit easily in a wall outlet. Many smart plugs are so large that they can take up extra space and prevent another outlet from being used. Despite being great for turning dumb appliances smart, smart plugs do have different features that set apart certain brands from others.
The Kasa smart app is incredibly easy to use and it helps you set automations within the app if you like. The fact that Kasa smart plugs are compatible with my Amazon Alexa smart home ecosystem has made them devices I come back to frequently.
My daughter’s wall lights are set up using Kasa smart plugs because I can control them using voice commands through my three Amazon Echo speakers as well as the Kasa and Alexa apps. They are easy to incorporate into the home and I haven’t had issues with setting them up ever.
I also like these smart plugs because they can monitor your energy use. These will give you readings on how much energy whatever devices are plugged into your smart plugs over a day, month, and year.
My smart TV uses power even in standby mode
However, it’s significantly less than I’d thought
I have a Samsung Frame TV mounted in my family room. We use it frequently throughout the day and I’ve been incredibly happy with the Samsung Tizen operating system, which I find to be easy to use.
The biggest perk of a Samsung Frame TV, besides its top-notch visuals, different TV modes, and ability to look good in almost any setting, is the fact that you can pay for a subscription and use your TV as a picture frame by portraying all kinds of painting and portraits. We like to change ours seasonally and it helps tie the room together by not leaving a blank dark space on the wall.
When you put your TV in standby mode, it displays the picture or portrait that you’ve chosen. If you shut the TV off, the screen goes blank. Throughout the day, we usually have the display in standby mode and at night we’ll shut it off.
I also like these (Kasa Smart Plug Minis) because they can monitor your energy use. These will give you readings on how much energy whatever devices are plugged into your smart plugs over a day, month, and year.
By plugging my Samsung Frame TV into one of the Kasa smart plugs, I was able to monitor how much energy the TV uses when it’s in standby mode showing a picture. I was surprised at how little energy is used up when the TV is in standby mode.
For an hour of it showing a painting, it only used 0.001 kWh. When the TV is on and streaming something on Netflix or watching cable TV, it averages around 0.2 kWh. So the fact that the TV being on doesn’t really affect the power usage at all. Whenever the TV is shut off, it doesn’t use enough energy to register in the Kasa smart plug.
Other devices I’ve used smart plugs with
It’s helped me keep tabs on the house’s appliances
As mentioned, I’ve used a number of smart plugs over the years and have enjoyed the perks of setting up automations with them. Being able to start my day by just turning on a smart plug and having a dumb appliance power up is my idea of a smart use of a simple smart home accessory.
I’ve used my smart plugs to start my morning routine by having the electric kettle turn on when the morning begins. I’ve used smart plugs with lights and had them set to timers to turn on and off when I’m not home to make it seem like I am in order to deter intruders. The smart plug can take the place of an additional timer and I’m able to track the energy usage of those lights.
I’ve used smart plugs both inside and outside my home. Having outdoor smart plugs is especially ideal in the winter time when I’m putting up holiday lights. This past winter, I had a fun experiment of seeing how much energy my holiday lights used, wanting to see if I needed to switch to safer and more energy-efficient lights. I was passed down lights by different family members when we got our home, so it was interesting to see which ones were actually good for my energy bill as well as looked good aesthetically.
My smart plug keeps tabs on my energy usage
The Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Minis are some of my favorite smart home devices because they are easy to use and simple to integrate. I also like them because they can monitor the energy usage of the devices that are plugged into them. Plugging my smart TV into it has shown me that, even when I’m using my Samsung Frame TV to display a portrait, the energy usage is particularly low in standby mode. I’ll continue to utilize smart plugs to keep an eye on my energy usage while also seeking out energy-efficient devices.
