With energy bills rising at an exponential rate, households are doing all they can to keep outgoings as low as possible.
Some are turning on their heating less often, sitting in darkness, and limiting leisure activities that they would normally do, such as watching TV or using games consoles, reports Manchester Evening News.
But it's important to remember that unless home appliances are switched off completely, they will still cost you money.
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New data shows that leaving electrical items on standby could be more costly than you realise.
Although the figures could seem small to start with, they very quickly add up through the year and could end up costing you hundreds of pounds.
Research from electricity and gas supplier Utilita has shown that the average UK household has 10 items left plugged in and switched off, despite not being in use.
The most common offenders tend to be games consoles and televisions, which add a significant chunk to your energy bill by the end of the year.
Not only that, but an estimated 30 per cent of UK homes have items left on standby that haven't been used in a year, with Archie Lasseter, sustainability lead at Utilita, saying: “Standby mode is a real energy drainer – some items use the same amount of energy as when they’re switched on.
“In each home, leaving just one TV on standby can waste up to £16 of electricity a year, which is a staggering £432 million for all UK households.”
The seven most-costly appliances to leave on standby
Xbox and Playstation
While good fun to play, games consoles become much less fun when you find out just how much they could be adding to your energy bill for the year.
Utilita says that a Playstation costs 2.41p per hour played, and an Xbox 2.22p - this is because they use 130 and 120 watts respectively when in use.
When left on standby, the consoles still use 10 watts, meaning even when not in use they're costing 0.18p per hour. While that may seem insignificant at first glance, it works out at 4.45p a day, equating to £16.24 a year.
TV
It is very easy for televisions to switch to standby mode with us realising or being able to do much about it. In previous times, the buttons were literally on the TV itself and the off button meant that it was switched off.
However, modern TV remotes tend to only use standby mode, which means that unless your TV is switched off at the wall, it's probably costing you a fair amount throughout the year.
Utilita says that a TV uses 40 watts of energy while in use, but much like the consoles, it uses 10 watts when sitting on standby.
That means, for five hours of watching it's costing around 3.7p, but even if it's left untouched all day but in standby, you're still paying 4.45p a day.
Over the year this equates to £16.24.
Printer
Printers have a sneaky habit of staying out of sight and out of mind, unless you need it at a specific moment.
While put away and out of use, it could be worth unplugging it, as this is third on the list for standby costs.
Like a TV, a printer uses around 40 watts of energy in use, and when still left on standby it continues to eat up 4 watts of electricity.
By the end of each day, this adds up to 1.78p, which means an extra £6.50 a year unnecessarily added to your bills.
Baby monitor
The fact that babies are expensive to raise is a universally-known truth, so do ensure that you're not adding to your difficulties.
You need a baby monitor when the child is sleeping, of course, but when your baby is with you and awake, it may be worth switching off the baby monitor completely.
A baby monitor uses around 15 watts of energy on average when in use, and 3 watts when on standby. Over a year, that's an extra £4.87 on your energy bill.
Laptop
With the pandemic forcing many of us into home or hybrid working, our laptops have become a crucial part of our day-to-day lives.
Utilita has calculated that running a laptop for five hours will cost around 6.95p as the device uses about 75 watts of energy.
You should ensure that your laptop is unplugged when fully charged and switch it off when you're finished using it, rather than just closing the lid.
While the device will only use around 3 watts of energy in standby mode, leaving on idle mode can cost an extra 1.33p a day, adding up to £4.87 over the space of a year.
Smart speaker
It is undeniable that smart speakers are very useful when at home to check the time, set alarms and times, check the weather, stream music, and much more.
While in use a smart speaker will only need about 3 watts of energy, however on standby that barely changes, only dropping to 2 watts.
This means over the year it can add an extra £3.45 to your bill - and that's just per speaker!
Phone charger
The vast majority of us are guilty of using the time when we are asleep to charge our phones, meaning it may be charging for longer than necessary.
It's certainly not the biggest cost per year, but a phone will add an extra 32p to your bill, not including the energy you use while actually charging, so try and think ahead when finding a convenient time to charge your mobile.
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