Primary Wi-Fi Matter device maker TP-Link recently announced that they will append Matter power meter features to its product lines through firmware updates.
The long-awaited feature has finally arrived. With numerous feedback and votes on the TP-Link user forum, the Tapo P110M smart plug will initially receive this feature, following extensive testing from community users.
The power meter is a common feature for smart plugs, power strips, and outlets. However, when these vendors shipped the first batches of devices, the Matter 1.3 specifications had yet to be finalized, leaving an unfortunate gap for companies to adopt the feature with proper testing.
Tapo Smart Plug, Energy Monitoring P110M
The Tapo Smart Plug P110M is a Matter-compatible on/off plug-in unit that offers precise energy consumption tracking to 0.001 kWh, with an updated energy monitoring dashboard and customizable power protection settings.
What’s supported in Matter?
Like most standard power meters, Matter provides live power consumption, cumulative consumption, voltage, and current readings in different formats and calculations. For the Tapo P110M UK plug I have (version 1.3.2), the Matter cluster displays these features. Due to varying adoption by Matter platforms, however, the feature is currently limited.
Despite TP-Link, only SmartThings and Home Assistant support the feature; there are three other notable platforms offering Matter power sensor support as well.
For Home Assistant, there are Energy, Energy exported, and Power entities. The platform may soon add support for RMSCurrent and RMSVoltage Matter clusters the plug uses in future updates with community contribution.
Aqara provides similar capabilities, showing electricity use today and for the current month, along with current power readings.
For SmartThings and Ikea, Power Meter and Energy Meter are displayed in the app, although current and voltage readings are both missing.
Homey is another Matter platform that supports this feature, but its actual availability is unclear, as I don’t have a unit to test. Please let us know if yours works well.
Availability
TP-Link has claimed that all Matter-certified devices with energy monitoring will eventually support this feature via future firmware updates, but has yet to provide a schedule or plan. It is also unclear if Deco, TP-Link’s Wi-Fi mesh system with a Matter controller built-in, will add this feature as they are also certified.
The firmware is now available for Tapo P110M smart plugs, accessible from the Tapo app. You can check and update to the 1.3.2 firmware to enable the new Matter features.
As of the time of this press release, TP-Link has yet to respond to Matter Alpha’s inquiries.
(Source: TP-Link; Image Source: TP-Link, Matter Alpha/Ward Zhou)
