The home is getting smarter. We hear that every day and we’re constantly exposed to new devices that all help to bring this home of the future to us. From smart doorbells, to smart door locks, to smart light bulbs and more. But one thing in our homes hasn’t changed much in over a hundred years since it was first invented and that is electric power distribution and management in the home. For all the smart devices we may have, they are still plugged into the same old “dumb” power outlets.

Lots of companies have introduced their version of a smart outlet, but it typically just means allowing it to be turned on and off from your phone. In my view, that’s remote control, that’s not being smart. Being smart means that you’re capable of doing a whole lot more than just being turned on and off from a phone.

This is why today I’m so excited to finally be able to talk about Currant. Currant is a K9 portfolio company that has developed the world’s first truly smart, AI-powered electrical outlet. The Currant Smart Outlet is almost like three devices in one. It is a) the best remote and voice control outlet on the market, with an ultra-fast response time based on a mesh network; b) the most accurate electrical energy monitoring device that one can buy; and c) it has a powerful rules engine that can allow you to set up sophisticated controls for your devices.

Currant’s Smart Outlet learns from how you use the devices that are plugged into it. It understands your usage patterns and can automatically suggest rules that allow you to save energy, save money, and save the planet, by turning off the devices when you’re not using them. Parasitic power consumption as it is called from our appliances and devices being left on or in standby mode contributes to a vast amount of the wasted energy in the United States and across the world. Currant is on a mission to have an impact on climate change by empowering us to reduce waste, but without compromising the utility and convenience we’re used to.

K9 first invested in Currant in 2015. The team at Currant has worked hard and diligently to create the safest smart plug on the market (and gosh you’d be surprised at how many crappy products there are in this space — typically cheap Chinese products that cut corners on quality, safety, and certification). The company has raised a total of $7M to date with follow-on rounds from Uncork Capital, UP2398, Precursor Ventures and others.

With over three years of R&D behind it, the Currant Smart Outlet offers not only the highest hardware and engineering quality, but also the best design in the category. The sleek reflective front of the Currant device is designed to reflect your existing decor so that it can become a part of every home’s design. It also features a unique flippable rear plate that makes it possible for it to adapt and conform to whatever orientation or location your electrical outlets may be in.

The Currant app is available on both iOS and Android, and provides a smooth setup experience and gives you the flexibility to control all your outlets in multiple rooms, or even in multiple locations all from the palm of your hand.

I have already been using the Currant smart outlets both in my home and at The Kennel. At the Kennel, I have our Wifi Router (BTW, it consumes about 9.7W!) and another small micro-controller on one Currant device. Since both of those need to sometimes be power-cycles, I can now do that right from my phone without having to climb up on top of the Container that doubles as our conference room. I have two lights that are hard to reach on another Currant device, so that I can turn them on and off as needed. And since I often forget to turn them off, the best part is that I can turn them on, and then have them automatically turn off after a few hours.

At home, I have my toaster and an indoor camera (StellaCam) on a Currant device. The toaster is already on a schedule so that it turns on at 7:00 AM and then turns off so that it’s not sitting there constantly sipping energy all day when no one is at home. I don’t want the indoor camera on all the time, so I can have it turn on only when we’re not at home, and turn off once we return.

We’re approaching the Holidays — I already know where my next Currant device will be used. It’s going to be running the lights on the Christmas tree and controlling the outdoor lights. For anyone who has Christmas lights in their home, trust me, Currant is the best Christmas light timer/scheduler you could get. That’s a great way to try it out and then you can move it to controlling other things in your home after Christmas.

Check out Currant at https://currant.com to order your Currant smart outlet, or order it on Amazon (with Prime shipping!). Here is a more detailed review of the product…