"Public" devices are mostly used for shared spaces where multiple people will be sharing the same outlet. Think of it as a parking meter that anyone can pay for and use at the rate defined by the parking meter.
Benefits of "Public" outlets:
Management can set the payment rate for an outlet once for all users.
User's will not be required to contact management to be granted access to "Public" outlet(s) - reducing the administrative task on the management side.
Important Notes:
"Public" outlet does NOT mean free usage. "Public" outlets can have a payment rate attached to them which the users will have to pay in order to activate the outlet.
A "Public" outlet is still OFF by default so anyone plugging-in to the outlet will NOT have access to electricity. Plugzio users will still have to activate the "Public" outlets using the Plugzio application or by logging into my.plugz.io and inserting the Plugzio outlet ID.
If you are trying to turn an outlet into a regular always ON outlet please read this knowledge article.
Can a specific user be on a different rate than "Public"?
Absolutely, "Public" outlets can still have private users with a different rate than the public. As an example, the concierge can be on a "free" plan even though other public users are on a "paid" plan.
Here is an example of an outlet that is "Public" with a private user.
For this specific outlet ID:
Since the outlet is set to be "Public", ANY Plugzio user can activate this plug and pay the rate at "$0.20 per hour"
Plugzio user, "douglas@parkizio.com", on the other hand is on a "Free Plan". So when "douglas@parkizio.com" tries to activate Plugzio, no charge is applied for usage.
To update the access plan to "Public" or "Private", please read this article.