What can I do with this smart plug that I just bought?

Kerry Lewis, Marlborough

AScrutinising one’s energy usage is, Guru is told, incredibly important and not in any way cripplingly dull. We will, for the sake of professionalism, ignore your author’s feelings towards his smart meter – they involve taking something very electrically inefficient to its stupid condescending screen – to state that smart plugs are great if you want to save a few pennies.

Something like TP -Link’s HS 110 (£30 – see p62) can do real-time and historical monitoring of the juice you’re sucking – if you’re wondering specifically which device is causing the klaxon to sound on your meter and the angry chap with the clipboard to start banging on your door, a smart plug is a great way to find out.

Switching things on and off, though, is their prime goal. Pretending you’re at home via a Kevin McAllister-style display of automated light-based shadow puppetry is certainly one thing you could do. More realistically, automagically dropping the power from an entire multi-socket full of kit when you’re not using it makes an infuriating amount of energysaving sense. Even better when it’s something that works with the Amazon Echo or Google Home, like the aforementioned hubless HS 110 or Energenie’s hub-based range of plugs (individually cheap once you’ve bought a £70 gateway).

Problem is, this doesn’t always work well. Guru just shouted at Alexa to turn on his TV, and she complied, sort of: power might have been siphoned into it, but the thing starts in standby, which is useless. If GaGu didn’t have his feet up some way from the remote, he certainly wouldn’t have hollered at a cybernetic being. If you’re more concerned with automation than frugality, devices like lamps or old-school hi-fi equipment work particularly well in this context.