How Smart Devices Help You Track and Trim Your Electricity Bill

Lasco Wifi Smart Plug (Airconditioner)

Optimizing Household Energy Consumption with Smart Plugs

I've been trying to minimize unnecessary expenses for a while now, and reducing our electricity bill seemed like a logical place to start. Over the years, our monthly power bill has steadily crept upward, partly due to the addition of new appliances, and partly because of rising electricity costs.

One likely culprit is the old refrigerator in the master bedroom. It’s not an inverter type, nor is it a no-frost model, so the freezer compartment has been frozen shut for ages (I’ll admit, I’ve been too lazy to defrost it). Beyond that, two other appliances stand out as potential medium-to-high energy consumers: the newer inverter freezer in the dining room and the 1 HP inverter air-conditioning unit in the master bedroom.

Building an Energy Model

The first step was to create a basic energy model of the house. This involved dividing the home into zones, listing all the appliances in each, and estimating their power consumption. I used the rated wattage from product stickers or manuals and made reasonable assumptions about daily usage hours. Precision wasn’t the goal, and a rough estimate was enough to get the ball rolling. The idea is to revisit and refine the model later, especially when projected consumption doesn’t match the actual monthly readings.

Sample pie chart of main energy consumers from energy model.

Enter Smart Plugs

To validate my assumptions, I turned to smart plugs with energy monitoring capabilities. I started with the TAPO P110M Smart plug. Fortunately, it uses the TAPO app, which I already use with our TAPO surveillance camera; a bonus since I didn’t need to install another app. The plug provides a real-time line chart of power usage (in watts) and cumulative energy consumption (in kWh) across daily, monthly, and yearly views. You can even input your electricity rate to get an estimated cost report. It also supports remote power toggling and integrates with smart home assistants and home automation platforms like Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Matter Certified, Apple Home, and Alexa.

The TAPO unit is rated for a maximum of 1,800 watts, which means I might not be able to use it with high-draw appliances like the air conditioner. To address this, I later purchased a LASCO 16A smart plug rated for up to 3,520 watts, which was specifically designed for aircon outlets. I also picked up two additional LASCO Smart plugs for the refrigerator and freezer.

TAPO vs. LASCO: A Quick Comparison

Feature	TAPO P110M with Energy Monitoring	LASCO Wifi Single Aircon Plug 15A
Max Wattage	1,800W	3,520W
App Experience	Excellent analytics, charts, and cost estimates	Basic analytics, limited charting
Smart Home Integration	Yes (TAPO app, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Matter Certified, Apple Home, and Alexa)	Yes (Lasco App, Smart Life App, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Google Assistant, Tuya, and Siri Shortcut)
Price	Slightly higher	Slightly cheaper
Ideal Use	Low to medium draw appliances	High-draw appliances like air conditioners

The LASCO unit was marginally cheaper and came with several options. You can have the basic model that just gives you the ability to toggle the power wirelessly or via voice command through the smart home assistant platform of your choice. Pay a little extra and you get the ability to keep track of your power consumption. It also comes in higher max wattage and amperes, and a lower model, which is meant for smaller devices and appliances. Its companion app lacks the visual analytics I appreciated in TAPO. It shows the real-time energy draw in watts, but doesn’t plot trends over time, which makes it harder to spot usage patterns at a glance.

TAPO Mini Smart Wifi Plug Energy Monitoring

Lasco Wifi plugs.

Applying the Pareto Principle

The real value of this exercise is in identifying which appliances have the biggest impact on your energy bill and focusing your efforts there. Think of the Pareto Principle: 80% of your energy costs likely come from 20% of your appliances. It’s easy to obsess over turning off LED lamps while unknowingly leaving a power-hungry desktop running for days.

Having this energy model, you can, over time, develop habits that make a meaningful dent in your bill. Here are a few insights I’ve gained so far:

Key Learnings

• The old refrigerator wasn’t as power-hungry as I feared. Based on projected savings, replacing it with an inverter model doesn’t seem justifiable, at least for now.
• The computer table setup (desktop, gaming console, printer, mini server, and charging station) consumes more power than expected. I am a bit surprised that a gaming rig with a decent GPU can rival a large freezer in energy draw.
• Air conditioner sizing matters. Smart plugs reveal how often the compressor runs. In cases of undersized units, the compressor may never shut off, which is a huge energy drain.
• Heat from electronics like desktop cooling fans, servers, and UPS units can increase the cooling load on your air conditioner. This should be factored into your aircon sizing and placement.