The silent thief that’s inflating your power bill every single month

March 19, 2026

By Kim Komando

It’s called phantom power, the electricity your devices sip 24/7 even when they’re switched off. Your TV. Your microwave. Your game console. Your Keurig that brews one cup a day, then sits there humming to itself like it pays rent. 

The Department of Energy says phantom load costs the average household $100 to $200 a year. Cash walking straight out the door without you ever touching a switch.

A smart plug goes between your wall outlet and whatever you’re powering. 

Its super powers?

Connect a smart plug to your Wi-Fi, and you control that outlet from your phone or with your voice. Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, whatever you have. Set a schedule. Shut everything off when you leave. Or when you don’t want to get your butt off the couch. No judgment.

💡 The one to buy

There are tons of these on the market. This is the only one you want to buy, the Kasa KP125M (27% off right now, $22, two-pack). Matter-compatible, meaning it works with Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit and Samsung SmartThings. All of them. 

Real energy monitoring, so you can see exactly what each device costs you per month. Slim enough that it doesn’t block the second outlet. You’re gonna love it. 

🔌 This power strip does the real heavy lifting

Plug your TV, soundbar and game console into a smart power strip, connect that strip to one outlet, and one voice command shuts the whole entertainment center down. That’s the move.

The best one: Kasa HS300 (20% off, $40). Six individually controlled outlets. Three USB ports. Energy monitoring on every single outlet. 

Here’s what that monitoring reveals in real homes: A gaming PC in sleep mode pulls about $21 a year sitting there. A cable box or DVR runs 24/7 and adds $25 or more annually. A game console in quick-resume mode costs another $15 a year. Your microwave clock runs the other 23 hours and 45 minutes at up to $8 a year. Your printer, used once a week, still draws power every other day.

None of those numbers sound like much on their own. But add up five devices, and you’re looking at $80 to $100 a year in electricity doing absolutely nothing for you. The HS300 strip more than pays for itself and then keeps paying.

⚡️ Know someone who complains about their power bill every single month? Forward this. The fix is easy and takes five minutes to set up. This is the kind of thing a good friend tells you.

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