This is an excellent question! In the early days, I had regular outlets and could only have about 2 things plugged in at once to prevent blowing a fuse. However, I discovered I was serious about encaustic painting and had an electrician install a few FGCI outlets which is not too costly (see description below).
In addition, I use 20 am powerstrips that can handle 20 amps rather than the traditional 15 amps readily available in hardware stores. I use the Tripp Power Strip.
A 20 amp GFCI outlet contains a sensor that monitors the flow of the electrical current through the wires, and when it senses a ground fault (in electrical terms, “fault” means any variation from the normal current), the GFCI, which also contains an internal switch, shuts off the flow of electricity in the outlet. They look something like this:
