The new electricity tariff system in Spain will force consumers to adopt new habits if they want to save on their bills, as the introduction of new time-of-use pricing will determine the price of electricity depending on when we consume it. What if we had a little help controlling our consumption?
Controlling the hours of consumption
The new time slots established by the government are divided into three groups according to price, from highest to lowest: Peak, Shoulder, and Off-Peak . These three billing periods will determine the price of electricity, so if we consume energy during the Peak period, we will be paying much more than if we did so during the Shoulder period or, even better, during the Off-Peak period.
For this reason, consumers should re-educate their habits at home to guide energy demand towards slots where it suits them best, and that is where technology could help. As? Smart plugs could be one of the solutions.
That it turns on only when I tell it to
If you have devices that are on all day and you would like to control their consumption a little more, a smart plug could be the solution you were waiting for. Most models on the market allow you to establish automatic schedules with which to determine when the device is turned on and off, and thus be able to control when a device consumes or not energy.
For example, if you have an electric water heater at home and you want it to only start working at certain times, all you have to do is connect the water heater to a smart plug and create the programming that interests you from there. One idea would be to allow the water heater to work from 6 in the morning to 8 in the morning (so you could shower with hot water when you wake up) and place a second programming in another time slot where you normally need help from the electric water heater.
If you also have a smart plug model compatible with voice assistants, you can turn on the device whenever you want with a voice command, so it will be quite easy to turn it on at any time, whether or not it is the best time to do so.
How to create a schedule on a smart plug
As we have mentioned, most smart plugs include the option to program schedules, but their configuration will always depend on the interface of the official application. Not all applications are identical, but in general terms, almost all of those dedicated to smart plugs work in the same way. In the following example you can see how we configure a smart plug from the TP-Link Kasa application.
- Enter the Tp-Link Kasa application and select the device you want to manage, in this case the smart plug (named in the example as Thermo).
- Click on the Program option to establish the desired programming.
- On the next screen we will have to specify on and off orders, so we will start at the beginning: turn on the thermos.
- Click on the + icon to create the new schedule.
- In the next window you will have to specify which type of action to choose (Turn on the power), the time you want it to occur and the days of the week on which the action will be executed.
- Complete all the data and click on save.
- Now you will have to repeat the same step, but selecting the time you want the "turn off the power" function to activate.
After completing these two steps we will have an on and off scheduled, so we will no longer have to worry about turning the device on and off at the set times.
The advantages of a smart plug
This is one of the great advantages of having a smart plug, so you can apply it to other types of devices that you have at home that consume energy continuously. Obviously it is not something that you are going to apply to a refrigerator or a freezer, but perhaps, reviewing the devices you have at home, you are interested in limiting the operation of any of them at certain times. Do you want to force yourself not to use the oven at certain times? This could be the (drastic) solution. With these fundamentals, you may find the need to limit the operation of some devices, although you should also review their low consumption modes (televisions, for example), automatic shutdowns (a NAS) or the option to turn off completely and not go to sleep (consoles and other types of devices).
The so-called phantom consumption is precisely one of the main problems that many homes have, since with the arrival of new smart devices we do not have control of what is being consumed and what is not.
Which smart plug to buy
In the market you will find a large number of smart plugs. Today they have become basic pieces similar to smart bulbs when setting up a home automation system, so it is normal for you to find numerous models on the market.
Ultimately, they all offer the same thing: the ability to control your electrical current from your mobile phone with smart, optimized features. The models will vary depending on their compatibility with smart assistants or smart home platforms like HomeKit or Google Home—features that could be very useful if you're looking to enjoy smart functions that allow you to control your devices from anywhere.
See offer on Amazon See offer on Amazon See offer on Amazon See offer on AmazonObviously the use of a smart plug will not always be the solution to your problems. These devices come at a cost, and if you buy a large number of smart plugs, in the end you will be spending more than the financial compensation of the savings on your electricity bill. So manage your resources well and organize your devices intelligently.
Maybe it's time to turn off the NAS at night, or not leave the Xbox Series X idle. Everything adds up to energy consumption at home, so now you may have to be more careful than before if you want to save on your electricity bill.