Energy thief hunt: step by step
In short. The energy thief hunt shows you which device in your home uses how much electricity – and what it costs you per year. A smart plug moves from device to device, ablesio plans the order, reminds you when to move it and converts everything into euros with your real electricity price. This guide shows every step with pictures from the app: starting, moving the plug, editing a plug, adding devices, changing times and reading the results.
1What you need
- ablesio Ultimate – the energy thief hunt is an Ultimate feature.
- One or more Shelly smart plugs (Gen2 or newer), e.g. Plug S Gen3, Plug PM, Outdoor Plug S or Plug S MTR. One plug is enough: it measures the devices one after another.
- The plugs must be connected to ablesio. There are three ways: with the ablesio script directly on the Shelly, via your smart home (Home Assistant, ioBroker and co.) – or let ablesio set them up for you (“Have it set up” in the hunt card).
- An electricity contract on your main meter in ablesio. Then ablesio converts every device into euros with your price.
Write each plug’s name on a sticker (“Wandering plug”, “Fridge plug”). That way you always know which one is meant when moving.
2Starting the hunt
You start the hunt in the “Devices” area:
- Tap your devices. In Simple mode you see the most common power hogs as tiles. Tap what you have. Each tile shows how long ablesio measures the device – short measurements first, fridges and freezers permanently.
- Tap Next. ablesio shows the finished plan: how many plugs you need, in which order the plug moves and when it reminds you.
- Tap 🕵️ Let’s go. Done – the first measurement is running.
In Advanced mode you set everything yourself: more devices (also your own, e.g. “pond pump”), how many of the same device, the measuring time per device, which plug wanders and which stays with one device, and the time and channel of the reminder (push, e-mail).
3Reading the card
While the hunt is running, its card is under Devices › 🕵️ Energy thief hunt. At the top you see the reminder time, below that the plugs – each with its devices in the order it measures them.
- ✓ done
- Result: Ø W (average power), 🌙 W (base load at night) and € per year. “fully measured” means there are values for almost the whole period.
- ▶️ measuring
- Progress in percent and days, already with first values. On the right: ⏹ Stop. You can change the duration in the dropdown.
- ⋮⋮ waiting
- comes later. Drag the handle ⋮⋮ to change the order; “skip” leaves a device out.
- 📌 permanent
- measures without end – ideal for fridges and freezers, whose consumption changes with the seasons.
At the top you can ➕ Add device or ➕ Add plug at any time, each plug header has ⚙️ Edit, and 📖 Guide opens this page.
4Moving the plug – no stress
When a measurement is done, ablesio reminds you at your chosen time – by push, by e-mail and on the app’s home screen with the “Time to move the plug” card. It shows which plug goes from which device to which.
After the planned end the plug simply keeps measuring until you move it. ablesio notices the move from the power interruption (the plug’s counter starts at 0 again): the old device’s measurement ends with the last value before unplugging, and the next device counts 15 minutes after plugging in. So move the plug whenever it suits you – the same evening, tomorrow morning or the day after – and tap “Moved ✓” afterwards, even later. ablesio waits for no more than three days: if no move is noticed by then, the measurement ends at the planned time. If the power fails in the whole house and several plugs restart at once, ablesio does not take that as a move.
- Unplug the plug (with the old device in it) and plug the device straight back into the wall.
- Put the plug in front of the new device: plug into the socket, device into the plug.
- Tap Moved ✓ in ablesio – on the home screen or in the hunt card.
Best move first, then tap: then ablesio knows the exact moment and the next device counts 15 minutes after plugging in – even if you only tap “Moved ✓” hours later. If you tap first, the next device counts after a settle time of 15 minutes from the tap.
Remind me tomorrow only moves the reminder, not the measurement. And if you’re in a hurry: you may move the plug up to 6 hours before the planned end.
5Editing a plug
Each plug header has ⚙️ Edit. There you give the plug a name and decide what it should measure:
- 🔌🥾 Several devices, one after another – it measures one device, then you move it and it measures the next. Ideal if you only have one plug (for now).
- 🔌⚓ Always the same device – e.g. fridge or freezer; the plug stays there permanently.
Under What happens next you immediately see the order in which the plug measures – before you save. Save applies it.
Planned several plugs at the start, but only have one in your hand? Open ⚙️ Edit on that plug, name it “Wandering plug” and choose Several devices, one after another. It automatically takes over the devices of plugs that were never plugged in, and what was meant to be measured permanently (the fridge) goes to the end. You can change that under More options.
6Adding devices and plugs
A few days in, you think of another device? Or you got a second plug? Both work at any time while the hunt is running:
- ➕ Add device: tap devices or enter your own, choose the duration, Add. Without further choice the device goes to the wandering plug with the shortest queue. If that plug is free right now, it starts measuring immediately.
- ➕ Add plug: enter a name and choose whether it wanders or stays with one device. A new wandering plug without devices of its own takes over half of the waiting devices – so the hunt finishes sooner.
- An existing plug that is not in the hunt yet – e.g. a built-in metering module on a ceiling fan: under “Which plug?” pick it from Existing plugs, not yet in the hunt, choose fixed to one device and enter exactly one device. It then measures it permanently.
🧩 Assign devices
You’ll find the board in the hunt card and at the top right of the detective board (Devices → 🕵️ Energy thief hunt). Delete single devices there with ✕ (stop a running measurement first with ⏹). In the roadmap “How your devices are measured around the house” you change the order directly: grab the handle ⋮⋮ on a device in the roadmap and move it – the devices form a chain, and the arrow shows when the next device starts.
With 🧩 Assign devices (at the top of the card) you see everything on one board. On the left are all devices to choose from, below them a field for your own devices and 🅿️ Parking (for later) – for devices that belong to your list but that you don’t want to measure for now. On the right is one box per plug with its devices in measuring order; each box shows whether the plug is 🟢 online, when it last reported and the last measured power (⚡ W). Drag devices by the handle ⋮⋮ into a plug, between plugs, to parking or into a different order – or tap a device and pick the plug under “Where to?”. Stop a running measurement with ⏹ to make it movable. Rename plugs with ✏️ right in the box. Nothing changes until you tap Save.
▶️ Measure a specific device now
In a plug’s device file (Devices → 🔌 Smart plugs → tap the plug chip) choose under “📍 Currently on” what should be measured next from your device list – the plug’s next device is preselected – and tap Measure now. The running measurement ends and is queued at the back. ✏️ Edit device list takes you straight to the board.
🔌 Add a new plug, and exports
Under Devices → 🔌 Smart plugs you’ll find ＋ Add plug next to the plug chips: give it a name (ideally the one on its sticker), tap Create – then choose how to connect it: 🧭 Via Shelly device directly (set it up yourself, step by step with a live check), 🛠️ Via Shelly device directly (set up by the ablesio.de team) or 🧪 Via smart home: ioBroker or Home Assistant. A plug’s page shows the device file and below it the 📤 Exports: device file as PDF or Excel, the curve of the selected view and all readings as Excel.
🗑️ Remove a plug and reassign its Shelly
Under Devices → 🔌 Smart plugs → ⚙️ Configure plugs you’ll find ＋ Add plug and 🗑️ Remove plug …. Removing releases the Shelly at the same time. If it keeps reporting, it shows up under “Unassigned Shellys”; Assign … gives it to a free or new plug – with its next report it fetches the new setting by itself.
💡 Light indication on the plug
Plugs with an LED ring (e.g. Plug S/M Gen3, Plus Plug S, Plug PM Gen3) show what’s going on: 🟠 orange = reporting to ablesio, 🔵 blue = measuring a device, 🟢 green with a blink sequence = measurement done, please move it, 🔴 red = can’t reach ablesio, 🟣 purple = larger transfer (buffer after an outage, script update). It flashes briefly with every report. In the device file under 💡 Light indication on the plug you see what it shows and can switch: ablesio colours, Shelly default (shows power) or light off – flashing can be turned off separately. There’s deliberately no real pulsing: every colour change is stored in the Shelly’s memory, constant switching would wear it out.
7Changing times, stopping, ending
Changing the measuring time
Every waiting and every running device shows its duration as a dropdown: 3, 7, 14 or 30 days. If you change it for a running measurement, the reminder moves accordingly. If the new duration is already over, moving the plug is due right away.
Stopping a running measurement
Tap ⏹ Stop in the row of the running measurement. The window tells you which device comes next:
- ⏭ Skip – the device is not measured.
- ↩ Again later – it goes to the end of the queue and is measured again later.
Either way the next device starts right away.
Ending the whole hunt
At the bottom of the card: open ⚙️ Reminders, plan & stop and tap End energy thief hunt. All measurements so far are kept.
Reset everything
Want to start over completely? In the same box (with a finished hunt, below the last result) there is 🗑️ Reset (delete results) …: it ends the hunt and deletes device list, order and measuring sections – detective board, ranking and consumption breakdown are empty afterwards. Your plugs stay and keep measuring. With the tick “Also delete all previous plug readings” the plugs’ curves disappear too (cannot be undone; balcony power plants and normal meters stay untouched).
8Pausing and resuming – with examples
Not everyone sticks to the plan – and that is perfectly fine. This is what ablesio does with the data when you stop a measurement, need the plug for something else or take a device up again later.
1. The plug always measures. A value arrives every 15 minutes, whatever you do in the app. The hunt only decides which device a time window counts for (a “section”).
2. Stopping closes the section immediately. Everything measured so far is kept and still belongs to that device – after just two hours of measuring you see a partial result (marked “preliminary” up to 20 hours).
3. After that the plug belongs to nobody. What is measured between stopping and the next start counts for no device; in the consumption breakdown it sits in “unassigned”. If you take the device up again, a new section begins – with 15 minutes settle time and the full measuring time from scratch. The old section stays unchanged.
How ablesio combines several sections of a device
- In the consumption breakdown and the ranking, sections with the same device name (upper/lower case does not matter) count as one device. In the plug’s device file you see each section on its own.
- For a period (week, month, year) the measurements that fall into it add up. If they cover at least 90 % of it, it says “measured”.
- Otherwise ablesio extrapolates the average daily consumption (“estimated”). The basis is the measurement inside the period (if there are several: the longer one), and if none lies inside, the one closest in time.
The plug only sees watts – not what is connected. What counts is what you tell the app. Plugging in alone assigns nothing.
Case 1: “Oops, I tapped ⏹ by mistake!”
You tapped ⏹ Stop although the device should keep measuring. Choose ↩ Again later in the window. If only this one device is on the plug, it starts over right away (new section, 15 minutes settle time). If others are waiting, the next one starts and your device goes to the end of the queue. Nothing is lost: the short first section stays as a partial result and is combined with the second. If you already chose ⏭ Skip, the ↩ Take up again next to “Skipped” at the bottom of the card helps: it takes the device up again and starts it immediately if the plug is free. If it was the last device, the hunt counts as finished (all values stay): then tap ↩ Reopen last hunt under Devices › Energy thief hunt and take the device up again.
Case 2: “I need the plug somewhere else for a few days”
For example for the hedge trimmer or a phone charger on holiday. Pause first, then move it – otherwise ablesio takes the other device’s consumption for the planned one.
- Tap ⏹ Stop and choose ⏸ Pause. The section ends now, nothing starts on the plug, and the waiting devices stay as they are.
- Use the plug for something else. The card shows “⏸ paused” on the plug.
- Afterwards: put the plug back on the device and tap ▶ Continue. The paused device starts with a new section (15 minutes settle time, full measuring time from scratch); the old one is kept.
If you are away, you do not need to pause anything: enter the trip under Profile › Notifications. Reminders then wait for your return, measuring continues – and you move the plug afterwards, whenever it suits you.
Case 3: “The device changes plugs”
The dryer hung on the roaming plug for two days, then you put it on the basement plug. Stop the measurement with ↩ Again later, open 🧩 Assign devices, tap the dryer and pick the basement plug. The dryer gets a new section there, the old section on the roaming plug keeps its values. If the measurement is already finished, moving is no longer possible; tap ↻ Measure again on the finished device (it is measured once more on the same plug) or add the dryer as a custom device with the same name (🧩 Assign devices › “Custom device”) and assign it to the basement plug. Because the name is the same, both sections show up in ranking and breakdown as one device. Watch the name: it must be exactly the same, otherwise you get two devices (for example “Dryer” and “Tumble dryer”).
Case 4: “I only measure the washing machine on laundry days”
Tempting, but tricky: if the section starts with the wash and ends after it, every measured hour is a washing hour – ablesio extrapolates the average to 24 hours a day and overestimates. Better: let the section run over full days or weeks (the “14 days” duration is made for that), even if the machine does nothing in between. Then washing and standby are right.
Case 5: “TV in winter and again in summer”
You measured the TV for seven days in January and want to re-measure in July. Tap ↻ Measure again on the finished device or add it as a custom device with the same name (🧩 Assign devices › “Custom device”; if the hunt is no longer running, reopen it or start a new one). A second section appears in July. For the months in between ablesio extrapolates from the measurement closest in time; for January and July themselves the measurement of that month counts. That makes the yearly extrapolation more accurate.
Case 6: “Fridge: permanent, but I need the plug briefly”
Fridges and freezers must never be without power for long. If you pull the plug only briefly (device straight into the wall) and plug it in again a few minutes later, you do not need to do anything in the app: ablesio only counts what the plug reports. The minutes without values are simply missing, the plug’s restart is detected and the permanent section continues seamlessly. If you need the plug longer or for another device, the fridge stays plugged straight into the wall; permanent devices cannot be paused, just put the plug back in front of it later.
Case 7: “I moved the plug and did nothing in the app”
Harmless as long as the plan keeps running: after the planned end the plug measures on until the move is detected (section 4). If you move before the planned end and tap nothing, the old device’s section keeps running – and credits the new device to the old one. In that case tap ⏹ Stop and start the right device. Values after the move cannot be re-assigned to another device afterwards; they stay in the old device’s section.
Before moving: stop. After moving: assign. In between the plug belongs to nobody – and that is fine.
9The results
You find the results in two places:
The detective board in the hunt (and the 🏆 ranking) shows every device that has been on a plug, sorted by cost per year – no matter which plug measured it. While a measurement is running, the device shows “▶️ measuring now · 2 days left · 33 %” with a progress bar, and How your devices are measured around the house below shows per plug the order of the remaining devices – ▶️ running • waiting • … up to the finish flag 🏁 approx. date – and when everything is measured. In the detective board, a 🥧 pie chart shows the measured kWh per device – it grows while measuring. Fixed plugs (e.g. on the fridge) run 📌 permanently without an end date; the goal 🏁 Everything measured approx. … is shown with the year as a milestone at the end. Tapping opens the device file with curves – switchable between 6 h, 24 h (per report, about every 15 minutes, with “yesterday, same time”) or 7 days (hourly, with the previous week) –, base load at night and projection. 🔌 Smart plugs shows all plugs together (toggle chips, with total and table); a single plug opens its file. And under Consumption split you see which share of your total consumption goes to the measured devices.
Under Devices your plugs are listed under 🔌 Smart plugs – with the device they are currently on and when they last reported. You never have to read them: they report on their own.
10Good to know
I forgot to move the plug – is the measurement wrong now?
No. The plug keeps measuring after the planned time until you move it – ablesio notices that from the power interruption. Move the plug when it suits you, then tap “Moved ✓”. ablesio waits no longer than three days, after that the measurement ends at the planned time.
I tapped “Moved ✓” before actually moving the plug.
No problem: after tapping, ablesio doesn’t count for 15 minutes. Just move it now.
How long should I measure which device?
Always-on devices like router, power supplies or a smart-home hub: 3 days. Devices with a daily rhythm like TV, PC or coffee machine: 7 days. Washing machine, dryer, dishwasher: 14 days. Fridges and freezers: permanently.
The plug briefly has no Wi-Fi – are values missing then?
Usually not. The ablesio script buffers up to 96 readings (24 hours) and sends them as soon as the Wi-Fi is back.
Why did the plug’s own “Shelly…” Wi-Fi disappear after a day?
That’s on purpose: the Shelly’s open access point is switched off once it reports reliably to ablesio – otherwise anyone in range could change its settings. If your Wi-Fi changes later (new router, new password), reset the plug (hold the button for about 10 seconds) and set it up again.
Can I rename a plug?
Yes, any time: Devices → 🔌 Smart plugs → tap the plug chip → ✏️ Rename at the top (or ⚙️ Edit on the plug in the hunt card). The name applies everywhere in ablesio, and the Shelly picks it up with its next report. Write it on the sticker too.
I want to change the times or skip the first device.
Change the duration in the row’s dropdown; skip a running device with ⏹ Stop → Skip.
I stopped a measurement – is the data gone?
No. Everything measured until stopping is kept and still belongs to the device. If you take the device up again later, a new section begins; both are combined under the same name (see section 8).
What happens to the consumption between two measurements?
It belongs to no device and sits in the consumption breakdown under “unassigned”.
ablesio · meter readings by photo · This guide describes the state of October 2026.