Hi,
I keep seeing people on the forum recommending turning off your electrical units to save money as „standby power“ consumes „a lot“ of electricity.
Here a quick calculation based on 0.5W standby that is the max allowed under EU law since 2013.
0.5W = 0.0005kw/hr
Per day that makes 0.012kw
Per year that makes 4.38kw assuming it is in standby 100% of time, which is stupid as you would actually use it as well.
That‘s equivalent to about 5 hours of playing PlayStation. So you could just Play on your phone for 5 hours instead of playing PlayStation once and you‘ve „saved“ the same amount of money.
That makes £1.27/appliance MAXIMUM per year. Many devices use less than 0.5W in standby and some use ZERO and again, I do hope you use the appliance as well, as otherwise why have it plugged in. Probably 80% is more accurate, I.e. £1.00/device/year for Standby.
The average household has 10-20 items plugged in at all times (depending on household) so this makes £10-25 per year if you turn all devices off when not in use.
You can save £10-20 by meeting friends at home just once compared to meeting them out in town for a drink. Or make your own pizza instead of dominos once - same amount saved.
I‘m not saying „don‘t turn them off“, as clearly every penny helps but people stress over the wrong things in life. This makes the smallest dent in a £2000 annual electricity bill.
PS: here the bit on EU law if anyone is interested. While it lo longer applies, no company will make appliances waste electricity just because of Brexit. The U.K. is far too small of a country to warrant the expense to design an identical product cheaper. Plus most EU law has been copy pasted into U.K. law
Since 2009 these devices are required to switch into a low power mode (such as standby) after a reasonable amount of time
Since 2013, they must not consume more than 0.5 Watts in standby or in off mode
These rules have reduced annual electricity consumption by around 35.5 TWh per year – the equivalent to the annual energy consumption of Romania. This has saved consumers €25 billion per year and 39 Mt of CO2 emissions.
Hope this helps some people a bit when it comes to planning how to actually save money on bills.  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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That all hurts my head.
Easier for me to just not think about it, and turn it all off.
I’m not bothered how much it saves, any little helps. I can’t be arsed to work it out. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Thanks for the info OP.
I do feel like I've missed out though, I've never noticed anyone mention turning stuff off on here  "
Turn it off, unplug it, notify electrjc company, then do in reverse the next morning  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I tried to read it, but, gave up after the first sentence as it involves thinking and I've done enough of that this week"
Alas I read it all, time I lost i won't get back |
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Loads of threads currently go on how to save on bills and for some reason some people even think „standby consumes more than when the unit is in use“. Many people just don‘t know anything on this topic.
No one needs to follow any advice. This is just for those that genuinely don‘t understand how standby power impacts their bills and wants to improve their knowledge rather than to just listen to a random on the internet say „do this“ or „don‘t bother doing this“. Whoever cares enough now can make an educated decision.  |
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"Some of us have electrical appliances that are older than 2013 "
Very valid point
Products manufactured pre 2013 are capped as well though to 1 Watt for example since year xxxx (can‘t remember and can‘t be bothered to Google atm). EU laws pushed max standby power down multiple times over the years. |
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"Some of us have electrical appliances that are older than 2013
Very valid point
Products manufactured pre 2013 are capped as well though to 1 Watt for example since year xxxx (can‘t remember and can‘t be bothered to Google atm). EU laws pushed max standby power down multiple times over the years."
Just random examples, but our tumble dryer was purchased in 2008 and our washing machine in 2009. The washing machine prior to that one we'd inherited from an elderly guy who'd bought it in the early 90s. |
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Washing machine, not too bad. The tumble dryer you can often save more in 2 years than what a new on costs. Huge savings to be had compared to old ones.
Not sure what they would use in standby ad often the „off Position“ on the dial cuts power to the unit on these old machines. |
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"I found that interesting OP.
When I was a child my mum used to say turning the lights off and on used more power than just leaving them on. Any idea if she was talking nonsense? "
Utter nonesense, but tiny bit of truth in there anyway.
The old lightbulbs can run for 100 years without breaking if left on continuously, but on/off cuts their lifespan dramatically. The cost of a new lightbulb is negligible compared to the cost of electricity though. Different folks see different expenditures differently though. You can‘t see the cost of electricity used by a bulb, but you can see the cost of a bulb on your shipping bill and it pretty much in 100% of cases break when you turn it on. |
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By *andonmessMan
over a year ago
A world all of his own |
"I found that interesting OP.
When I was a child my mum used to say turning the lights off and on used more power than just leaving them on. Any idea if she was talking nonsense? "
Only really applies to fluorescent tubes/lights as they require a spike of electricity to strike an arc in the gas and provide light. Incandescent and LED lights don't require this. |
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