This Smart Plug Manages Energy (and Energy Spending) Better Than Any I’ve Tested

Smart plugs remain one of the best ways to start a smart home, affordable little devices that can plug into any standard outlet and start working their magic. Part of that magic is automatic scheduling and remote app control, but one of the most valuable smart plug features is the ability to monitor a device’s electricity use.

Emporia already has a place on our smart plug list as the best option for energy management. So when the energy device company came out with a new model, I was anxious to test it and see how it held up. What I found was an incredibly user-friendly app chock full of ways to monitor energy use and save electricity. Here’s how it works.  

Eyes on electricity

Smart plugs excel at easy setup, and Emporia’s indoor plug is no exception. You plug it in (a small LED light shines when it’s active), download the app, and connect it to your Wi-Fi network. Emporia’s process is pleasantly streamlined and only takes a few minutes from beginning to end.

Once you’ve named your smart plug, you can start directly controlling it via the app or setting automatic schedules. Schedules allow you to name specific times to turn the device on or off or use Emporia’s suggested daylight cycle. If you want manual controls, a button on the side of the plug acts as an on/off switch. The plug also works with Alexa and Google’s voice assistant/Gemini.

Options like these are common and make smart plugs a common recommendation for small household lamps, decorative devices, TVs, fans, humidifiers and so on. Just watch specifications like amps and volts: Emporia’s latest model is rated for 15A max/10A continuous usage, enough for most home devices except possibly large appliances or heaters.

But the impressive part of Emporia’s smart plug remains its energy management services.

Plugging into Emporia

Home energy is pricier than it has been in years: In winter 2024, our CNET survey found energy bills were straining 62% of American adults’ finances. Ways to save energy (like smart thermostats) can help more than ever– and that’s why Emporia’s energy monitoring options stand out so much.

Choose the Graph option in the home menu, and you can see a device’s electricity use in both current watts and peak kilowatts during the highest use periods of the month. You can also shift the graph back to hours or days (weeks, months, etc.) to watch for discrepancies. Basically, you have access to all the info you need to see when devices are chomping down on your energy, how it changes with the seasons, and when energy use looks suspiciously high for no reason. The interface is clean and very easy to understand, too.

I tested the plug on both a small fountain and a tiny space heater. The fountain, fortunately, consumes very little electricity — drawing barely even a watt — but the space heater was, unsurprisingly, an energy hog when in use — something I’ll try to minimize. You can also use charts like this to see if some devices (like entertainment systems) use a surprising amount of electricity when in standby modes or if there’s some explaining spike in energy use at specific points of the day, which could indicate problems or covert messing with the thermostat when it should be off limits.

But Emporia’s energy management options expand from there. I was glad to see that scheduling options include an “Off-Peak Hours” option, which only switches devices on during typical low activity times for your grid. Since many utilities charge higher fees to use electricity during peak hours, setting certain devices to operate only during off-peak times makes it easier to automatically save money around the home.

Emporia can go even further if you have other Emporia devices. Adding an Emporia Vue Energy Monitor to your electrical panel helps make peak demand management easier and lets you set more direct energy goals. Adding a compatible solar panel allows you to choose which powered devices get excess solar energy and which should shut down. This is a lot more effort, though, so it’s nice to see how much a little smart plug can accomplish on its own.

Final thoughts

Emporia’s latest smart plug is user-friendly and makes it particularly easy to set up your home electronics to save money for you. It’s cheap, too — you can get a four-pack to manage several devices around the home at once for $35.

The only caveat I noticed is that the smart plugs are slightly bulky. Mine stuck out a little from the sides of my outlet. This isn’t always a concern, but in tight spaces, the plugs may not have enough room or could get in the way of other, larger adapter connections.

As saving energy becomes increasingly important, smart plugs are entering a new heyday around the home, and Emporia’s model remains an example of how useful they can be.