An example energy management unit (EMU) with diagnostic capabilities is provided. The EMU with diagnostic capabilities can identify a potential failure or end-of-life condition by detecting a higher power consumption, an abnormal power waveform or by receiving a signal from an appliance or piece of equipment itself generated by the appliance's or piece of equipment's self diagnostic system. The EMU can be incorporated into a system that permits various power consumption and time-current information to be transmitted to a variety of devices and parties via a communication.