We recently purchased TP-Link’s Kasa KP125M ‘Smart Wi-Fi plug’ with energy monitoring. The slim form factor allows users to “stack” the smart plugs together so that a typical outlet can be fitted with two separate smart plugs to control different devices. Kasa has been providing smart plugs with Wi-Fi for some time however, the KP125M goes a few steps further by supporting both Matter and energy monitoring capabilities.
In addition to Matter support the KP125M is compatible with major home automation platforms like Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. It also integrates with third-party smart devices such as cameras, thermostats, locks, and lighting products through IFTTT applets. You can also control the plug using voice commands with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to turn it on or off.
Although the the KP125M is Matter-enabled, in order to benefit/use it’s energy-monitoring capabilities you will need to access the plug through Kasa’s app. The cool thing about the app is that it has Schedule, Timer, Away, and Usage information and control. The schedule options lets you create usage schedules for the plug that turns on/off at sunrise, sunset, or any other time of the day. The Timer feature allows you to get the plug to turn on or off after a timer for anywhere between one minute and 24 hours. Set the plug to away mode and you can specify a period where the plug turns on or off randomly…think of getting a lamp to turn on to make it look like someone’s home when you’re out at night. Finally, the usage information allows you to monitor daily or monthly energy usage of connected devices in kilowatt-hours (kWh) which effectively, can save you several $$ per month.
Here’s an example of what the energy-monitoring charts look like:
In this review we decided to use Amazon’s Alexa platform with Matter to connect the KP125M to our Alexa ecosystem. The Alexa app does a great job in allowing users to easly connect their Matter-enabled devices so lets explore the steps:
Prepare the Device: Make sure the plug is powered on and its LED is blinking alternating colors between blue and orange (setup mode). If the LED is not blinking hold the power button for more than 5 seconds.
Open the Alexa App: Launch the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet and go to ‘Devices’. From here, click/press the ‘+’ icon and select ‘Add Device’. You’ll notice that there are shortcuts on the top which make adding new Matter devices pretty straightforward so go ahead and tap the Matter logo.
The app at this stage will then check to make sure that the device you are trying to connect supports Matter.
The app will then confirm that your device is powered on (make sure it’s in setup mode).
At this stage all you need to do is scan the QR code located on the side of the plug and Alexa does the rest.
Last step, connect the device to your network.
And that’s it!
Although the KP125M is a little pricey at around $20 per plug, we feel the pros outweigh the cons:
- Supports the Matter smart home standard.
- Offers reliable voice control capabilities.
- Provides robust third-party integration options.
- Delivers accurate energy usage reports with cost estimates.
- Works with all the major smarthome platforms
As we mentioned above, per plug cost of the KP125M is on the pricier side but if you buy the plugs in multi-pack format you can definitely save money. See below for recent savings on Amazon!
