With the introduction of the smart plug integration and with the Always On Stats feature, many users have asked how exactly we calculate Always On usage and the related, but different, Standby state. In the interest of full transparency, these definitions are pretty technical. You can find more simplified explanations at the links above. Note that these calculations are subject to change.
Always On
Always On is a calculation of the lowest power of each of your mains, added together, where “lowest” refers to the 1% bin of the observed wattage histogram over the previous 24-48 hour period. It is updated every half second, though most users will not see significant real-time changes given the 48 hour lookback window. See Always on: What is it? for more information.
Always On component of a smart plug device
This is an estimate of the Always On-ness of a smart plug or dedicated circuit device based on its power draw over the past 24 hours. It is updated once every few hours based on consumption data. Always On-ness is determined by looking at the distribution of wattage at a high granularity (1 second) and estimating a value corresponding to the 1% bin of its observed wattage histogram.
Standby
Standby only exists for smart plug and Dedicated Circuit devices. For devices that are always using some amount of power (even if they seem ‘off’), Always On is representative of that vampire energy draw of those electronics. However, this differs from what we refer to as ‘Standby’, which is usually somewhere between the wattage draw at its lowest and the draw at normal use. Standby can be manually configured by you, based on your use of the device and how you want to see it represented in the Sense app. Learn more here.