The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for controlling power consumption of a plug-in card or circuit module. The disclosed method, in particular, controls power to a circuit module and includes implementing a user interface and power manager to automatically control the power state of the circuit module by, among other things, powering the module up or down using a simulated hot unplug of the device. The apparatus further includes use of an I/O interconnect to allow the system BIOS to simulate the hot unplugging of the module.