Almost all electrical appliances have a standby mode which allows them to switch back on very quickly and display information such as the date or time when they are technically “off”. The most obvious piece of standby equipment is the television but you’d be surprised how many other items include a stand by mode such as washing machines, microwaves, dishwashers, computers, and printers.

Despite the rumours, leaving an appliance on standby doesn’t use as much electricity as having it on does and the new newer your device, the less electricity it will likely use. A new bit of European legislation actually states that an appliance on standby can use no more than 1 watt of power. But what if your device was made before this legislation? Some old televisions use up to 12 watts! Today we’re going to look at how much a new TV on standby will cost you compared to an old one.

New Appliances Costs

So you’ve bought a TV that abides by the rule of 1 watt an hour and therefore uses 1kWh every 1000 hours. We know that there are 8760 hours in a year, and therefore it’ll use 8.76kWh a year. At the moment a 1kWh from one of the big 6-energy company costs 14 pence, so in a year you’ll be paying £1.23 for your TV to be on standby.

Old Appliances Costs

Lets say you’ve got a TV around ten years old which uses 12 watts an hour. That means that every 83 hours it will use 1kWh for the time it’s on standby. Again, there are 8760 hours in a year so if we can figure out that the TV will use 106kWh a year which in today’s money will cost you £15.

How can you save?

A study from the Energy Saving Trust found that around 9-16% of the electricity used in homes was going towards powering devices on standby. Say your electricity bill is £600, that means you’d be paying £96 for devices that are doing nothing.

If you want to lower the price your paying for standby then turn your devices off at the plug. Also, when you’re charging phones or ipods, don’t leave them to charge over night as they will be charged within a few hours and will spend the rest of the night costing you money.