A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. A power plan is also known as a power scheme.
Changes made to a power plan settings will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power plan.
Windows 11 includes the following power plans by default:
- Balanced = Offers full performance when you need it and saves power when you don't. This is the best power plan for most people. Allows you to change your Power Mode.
- Power saver = Saves power by reducing PC performance and screen brightness. If you're using a laptop, this plan can help you get the most from a single battery charge.
- High performance = Maximizes screen brightness and might increase PC performance. This plan uses a lot more energy, so your laptop battery won't last as long between charges.
- Ultimate Performance = Only available in the Windows 11 Pro for Workstations edition by default. Provides ultimate performance on higher end PCs. It builds on the current High-Performance policy, and goes a step further to eliminate micro-latencies associated with fine grained power management techniques. As the power scheme is geared towards reducing micro-latencies it may directly impact hardware; and consume more power than the default balanced plan. The Ultimate Performance power policy is currently not available on battery powered systems.
- Custom = These are custom power plans created by a user on the PC and/or included by your PC manufacturer (OEM).

This tutorial will show you how to see which power plan is currently set as the active power plan for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Contents
- Option One: See Active Power Plan in Control Panel
- Option Two: See Active Power Plan using "powercfg /GetActiveScheme" Command
- Option Three: See Active Power Plan using "powercfg /L" Command
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Power Options icon.
2 The currently selected power plan (ex: "Ultimate Performance") will be your active power plan. (see screenshot below)
1 Open Windows Terminal, and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.
2 Copy and paste
powercfg /GetActiveScheme
into the terminal, and press Enter. (see screenshot below) 3 You will now see your current active power plan (ex: "Ultimate Performance") as the output.
1 Open Windows Terminal, and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.
2 Copy and paste
powercfg /list
into the terminal, and press Enter to see a list of all existing power plans. (see screenshot below)3 The power plan (ex: "Ultimate Performance") with an asterisk (*) to the right of it is your current active power plan.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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