‘Is it worth the money?’ This is the tool our product testers use to rate every appliance’s cost-to-run value

We take testing every appliance we recommend (or advise against) very seriously, which is why every item is put through rigorous testing. And, of course, one of the most important questions when it comes to electrical appliances is how much electricity they use. And for testing this particular aspect we use a genius little tool - an energy monitoring plug. 

Every one of our best air fryers and best dehumidifiers gets tested with an energy monitoring plug to reveal which are more energy efficient and which appliance guzzes an obscene amount of electricity. This has never been more important than right now as we find ourselves in the middle of an energy crisis and the energy price cap is set to rise from next January.

But it’s not just appliance experts like our review editors that can use an energy plug. You can check the energy efficiency of your home appliance yourself as energy plugs like the Ideal Home editor-recommended Yagosodee Electricity Usage Monitor from Amazon are widely available to buy. And they only cost £10!

What is an energy monitoring plug?

Energy monitoring plugs, commonly also referred to as an energy plug or a electricity usage monitor, measure the power consumption and cost of your energy appliances and it’s how we test dehumidifiers and the like. Our Ecommerce Editor, Molly Cleary swears by hers.

‘The only hurdle you need to get past right at the start is finding out your energy unit rate and entering it into the device. But after that, it’s smooth sailing and it’s very straight-forward to use. Not to mention super helpful.’

Molly Cleary

Molly, Ideal Home's Appliance Writer, knows her way around all the household essentials, whether that's testing the best air fryers, giving the best cordless vacuums a run for their money, or getting her caffeine-fix reviewing the best coffee machines. As such, she's no stranger to how much energy our household appliances can guzzle.

An energy plug gives you the power of knowledge. You’ll see how much running your appliance is costing you and whether it perhaps needs replacing for a more energy-efficient model. 

Energy plugs are not the same thing as smart plugs though, even though they sound similar. It’s an easy mistake to make. Smart plugs save money on electricity in a different way as they allow you to schedule when to switch your electrical appliances on and off by itself as needed via an accompanying app. 

However, there are smart plugs that also include the energy monitoring function in their app like the Tapo Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring at Amazon which is no short of genius in our opinion.

So is an energy monitoring plug worth the investment of £10 worth saving you hundreds of pounds on electricity in the future? We think it’s pretty clear it is.