This article deals with the analysis of the power consumption in the piezoelectric ceramic patch of lead zirconate titanate and the losses arising from the adhesive bonding with the host structure. When a lead zirconate titanate patch is utilized as an impedance transducer in the electromechanical impedance technique, it acts both as a sensor and as an actuator (dual effect) for the range of frequency. Power consumption occurs in two forms. First part of the energy is used to actuate the lead zirconate titanate patch and produce deformations. The other part of the energy is dissipated within the piezo-mechanical system due to the internal mechanical loss and the associated heat generation. The determination of the power consumption characteristics for an active piezo-system is very important for designing an efficient intelligent structure with optimized mass and energy combination. Adhesive bond itself acts as an added stiffness, mass and damper and plays an important role in mechanical and electrical energy conversion. Hence, a detailed investigation is needed to characterize the power consumption and energy issues associated with bond layer driven by lead zirconate titanate patch, which is the main aim of this article. © The Author(s) 2014.