Turning the plug socket off when not in use, how popular?

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

Every so often there is an article in the paper about saving money by turning off appliances but I think it is completely ass backwards and the numbers are often lazily compiled from out of date data.

With modern switch mode power supplies, the quiescent current of many common appliances is so low that there isn't the savings promised. The quiescent draw of my microwave for example is well under a pound a year.

I find it amusing that people go round switching off 4w light bulbs and turning off TVs on standby drawing milliamps to save money yet they don't concentrate on the actual major factors in their leccy bill like measuring water in the 3,000w kettle and limiting the time they have the 10,000w electric shower on.

Classic case of saving pennies whilst chucking away pounds.

[-]

alex8339@reddit

measuring water in the 3,000w kettle

The wattage of the kettle is superfluous detail here

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

No, it is to highlight that it is 750 times the wattage of a 4w lightbulb. It is entirely salient to the point. Your reply is completely superfluous.

[-]

alex8339@reddit

But the wattage of the kettle is largely irrelevant for the energy consumption required to boil water. It's volume which matters.

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

Read the full sentence before you reply.

I specifically talked about measuring the amount of water in the kettle. The volume of water and energy consumption are both completely essential to the point.

Your only point is to be contradictory without any sensible comment showing you have read and understood what you are trying to contradict.

Now piss off you thick pleb.

[-]

alex8339@reddit

Except wattage is power supply rather than energy consumption.

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

No, not except...

I said to measure the amount of water used in the 3kw kettle. Fixing the wattage means that the energy consumption is then proportional to the amount of water.

Which I am sure you know but are just deciding to be an intolerable prick for no reason.

[-]

alex8339@reddit

Energy consumption is proportional to volume of water regardless of wattage, unless the wattage is so low that heat loss when boiling the water matters.

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

And energy consumption of an led is proportional to how long it is on for.

As mentioned already, the point of mentioning the wattage was for comparison.

The important question is really why you are being such a fud here?

[-]

Winter_Sweet5023@reddit

My parents, turn off their led light religiously but have left the immersion heater on since 1971

[-]

srm79@reddit

And LED lights are diodes, which can increase the efficiency of a circuit just by being switched on - some LED lights actually save money by being on because of the timings and frequencies of the ring main they're attached to

[-]

CreativeSituation778@reddit

Source?

[-]

srm79@reddit

Well, I'm an electronic engineer! I could write up a proof, but it's very contingent on what else is connected to the ring main. And it's the timing frequency of the load on the ring main that would make the difference, not the phase supply from the grid. Diodes can regulate the power being drawn and reduce the overall load of the circuit - especially if there are transformers or chargers attached, diodes can balance the LC or RC of the circuit where inductance (found in transformers and chargers) can accumulate extraneous charge (static)

[-]

yrro@reddit

Are you talking about increasing the power factor of a circuit? Because AFAIK domestic use is billed based on real power consumption, not apparent power.

[-]

doc1442@reddit

Source is easy: basic knowledge of electronics and shitty ring mains

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

Agreed. This needs backing up. How can something that is emitting energy, and thus consuming it reduce the overall consumption?

[-]

dowhileuntil787@reddit

I’m not 100% sure what you’re referring to here, but my best guess is you mean by improving the power factor and/or by functioning as a freewheel diode?

Problem is that domestic supplies in the UK are charged only by real power anyway so if so, it wouldn’t save any money.

Also most household LED lights now use SMPS drivers, even for AC to AC converters, because they’re just so much smaller… and if anything make the power factor worse and introduce transients (especially if cheap drivers).

Maybe with an old fashioned AC-AC transformer and a linear driver? But surely any benefit would be massively outweighed by inefficient that is especially given the diode is the wrong sort of diode for that application so wouldn’t do a good job even in the best case.

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

I just had to Google "quiescent". I've never heard that word before.

I like it. Thanks. 🙂

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

It's relatively uncommon in general parlance but relatively common in electronics in that context.

[-]

axeman020@reddit

Upvote for the excellent use of "quiescent"... twice.

[-]

jimicus@reddit

How’s that worked out?

Because every single time I’ve seen those calculations, it assumes some absurdly high standby usage that hasn’t been legal in decades.

[-]

Mammoth-Difference48@reddit

I think that’s the question. Is it true? We’d need a data person from an energy company I suppose.

[-]

RollApprehensive1431@reddit

A good option, if you have a smart meter, you can access your half hourly data and have a look at your consumption during nighttime hours, 3am potentially

This baseline is more than likely going to be your standby consumption

The IVIE - smart meter app is an option available among others

[-]

cpn_banana@reddit

That baseline consumption is going to include your fridge, freezer and phones being charged.

[-]

RollApprehensive1431@reddit

100% right but you can still experiment with turning TV and other devices off at the wall to see if it is a noticeable impact during relatively low periods of consumption

Fridge and freezer usage during this time should be fairly low unless you went for a 2am snack and opened the door

[-]

Mammoth-Difference48@reddit

I do have one but the UX is poor.

[-]

funnystuff79@reddit

On my smart meter my standing charge is charged at 6 am or something and it doesn't affected the kWh chart anyway

[-]

AffectionateJump7896@reddit

I am inclined to believe the very bottom of the £20-45 range. But all that agro for £20. There are far lower hassle ways of saving £20 - I just switched my bank account for £200, so will happily leave things plugged in for the next decade.

On the £20 saving, a quick walk around the house and some chat GPT. We could turn off: TV, microwave, hob, oven, toaster, kettle, PC, Laptop, 2x phone chargers.

Using the price cap of 25.73 p/kWh, it gets to £25.81/year.

Clearly you need to look up the standby usage of all your appliances rather than trust AI, but a spot check of the big ticket items (the kitchen appliances with clocks etc at 2-3W), it seems to have come up with reasonable estimates based on this.

Thanks, but not doing it. It's just so annoying to drop down on the sofa and find that the TV is off at the wall.

[-]

doc1442@reddit

If you really want to actually save the energy, maybe avoid using generative AI for something you can do with your eyes.

[-]

Street_Adagio_2125@reddit

I don't pay for the AIs energy though

[-]

alex8339@reddit

But you using it is increasingly the marginal price of electricity for everyone.

[-]

Bubbly_District_107@reddit

Hypocrite

[-]

Street_Adagio_2125@reddit

What's hypocritical about that? I want to save money I'm not really arsed about my individual energy use

[-]

Merlisch@reddit

This might be a daft question, how does a microwave, kettle and toaster consume electricity when not in use? Mine don't have a display, led or anything so I always assumed they would not. I do however, and have for decades, unplug everything/ switch socket off that I'm not using so I've never experienced the standby consumption. Sucks having to reset the oven every time but alas it's the path I chose.

[-]

AffectionateJump7896@reddit

The main culprit is a component called a zenner diode. It's part of turning AC current into the DC current that a phone charger dishes out or a microwave relies upon.

The rectifier (diodes and a capacitor) mostly turns AC into DC, but there is still a bit of voltage fluctuation. The zenner diode 'throws away' that fluctuation to give you the perfectly smooth DC you need. So even when not being used, appliances are throwing away a fraction of a volt and a tiny bit of current to have nice smooth DC ready to go.

So the microwave yes, the toaster and kettle probably not so much as they will just run off AC. Nonetheless, some of my family turn their kettle off at the wall. You turn the kettle on and come back a few minutes later to it stone cold.

[-]

Merlisch@reddit

Thanks a lot, I'm a fitter by trade so electricity is somewhat wizardry to me ;)

[-]

sp4m41l@reddit

Many of those you mention don’t draw anywhere near what you think. Phone chargers draw virtually nothing if the phone isn’t connected, the kettle draws nothing when not used, the microwave and oven runs a few leds with virtually zero draw in the milliwatts range, the tv and computers etc run a standby voltage so it can come on when requested but the draw is much, much less than 5watts.

[-]

BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

My FIL religiously turns every single fucking socket off every night yet when we stay over I still forget and sit there waiting for the fucking kettle to boil. Makes my blood boil more like!

[-]

ben_jamin_h@reddit

Yeah let's say you spend 30 seconds a day turning everything off, and 30 seconds a day turning everything on.

Over the year, that's 365 minutes, so let's round up and call it 360 minutes which is 5 hours.

I value my leisure time at £25 and hour. It would cost me £125 a year to save £25. It would cost me, in real terms, £100 a year to go around and turn off everything at the plug every time.

[-]

QuickTemperature7014@reddit

Your point has a couple of flaws. You can save up the pennies you save and do something you value with them. You cannot save up time and you’re already wasting more than a minute a day on something that has no value to you.

Besides, most people who do switch things off at the wall are doing so in part to avoid waste / emissions as a principled action and/or as a fire safety measure.

[-]

AffectionateJump7896@reddit

I like it. It's a £5/hour job. I can earn or save more than that in a variety of ways.

[-]

ben_jamin_h@reddit

Yeah sorry but there's absolutely no work that I would consider doing for less than national minimum wage!

[-]

jimicus@reddit

To be honest, a far bigger improvement for me was putting a Sonos in the lounge.

(My wife keeps the TV on for background noise, and 40” panels are surprisingly power hungry).

[-]

Maleficent-Drive4056@reddit

As someone with 8 Sonos speakers always on I always wonder what the background consumption of them is!

[-]

g0ldcd@reddit

You can get smart plugs, then set timers on those for when you know you're not going to be using the Sonos... Or just shout at your smart speaker to turn then on/off .. Of course you then need to worry about the power draw of the smartplugs

[-]

jimicus@reddit

My choices are that or the telly.

I'm happy with my choice.

[-]

Iamleeboy@reddit

I just moved house so have been paying a bit more attention to my smart meter. It’s usually sitting around 7-9p per hour.

I have 5 Sonos speakers on all the time, a Samsung frame tv in art mode. All the other TVs, ps5 etc in stand by.

I’m really not worried about the pence that things are costing me.

[-]

kingsappho@reddit

lol using chat gpt for gaining information is a terrible idea

[-]

YourStupidInnit@reddit

"How’s that worked out?"

Made up bullshit.

[-]

SecTeff@reddit

I had a home energy visit and the assessor was Going on about how I hadn’t turned plugs off.

So I went around doing it religiously and it made piss all difference as the devices were off and not even on standby

[-]

iamparky@reddit

When electricity prices spiked in 2022, I went round the house with a wattage-measuring socket (something like this that I'd had since trying to reduce my bills back in 2005 or so.

And yeah, most modern devices just don't register at all when they're on standby. But...

Sonos speakers are quite poor, mine was drawing 4W just sitting idle. They're meant to be kept powered on but still... We have one hooked up to an older TV that was drawing similar power. So now we turn them off at the wall, in 2022 I calculated that'd save £25 a year. Not massive, but it's no inconvenience to flip the switch on and off as we need it.

We had one of those smart assistant display things. Weren't using it, but it was also drawing 4W. Off it went, saves a tenner over a year.

The air fryer somehow draws 1W when not in use, costing us £3.20 a year. Hardly a lifechanging amount but, to quote Mr Burns, I think we'd be happier with the dollar, so we switch it off at the wall.

And there were a few other gadgets around the house with a similar power draw. In total I figured we'd save £75 a year just by keeping these things off when not in use.

I mean, it's not much, but it's not nothing either. If it's reasonably convenient to switch things off at the wall I don't see why you wouldn't; neither is it worth being religious about.

[-]

funnystuff79@reddit

£75 is about 1/12 of my annual bill, certainly worth it

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

No idea, I'm not an expert. Do you have more recent calculations?

[-]

forbhip@reddit

I live in a mid sized new(ish) build semi. With nothing on but the background devices (fridge, router, CCTV, Alexa, Hive etc) my smart meter shows 4-5p an hour. I’ve just tested now and it didn’t budge when I turned off the mains for around 8 devices (white goods, entertainment in living room including an always on but idle Apple TV box). I’ve got a feeling modern devices don’t really sap as much these days. Guessing my use case is pretty common.

Just throwing my stats out there, it could be completely different for others for all I know.

[-]

billsmithers2@reddit

And most of your 4-5p will be the fridge. They can be quite energy hungry.

[-]

thegamingbacklog@reddit

Seeing all these conversations I should probably remember to turn my PC off at night.

My idle no one in the house wattage is I think about 200-300 watts as I run two servers

[-]

caspararemi@reddit

My parents torn off their mini g room switches at night, including the tv/sound system, lamps, and various other bits. They say it’s to save money, but my mum also washes AND tumble dries all their towels every single bloody day, so I doubt it’s balancing anything out.

[-]

mralistair@reddit

that's insane

[-]

drplokta@reddit

I will happily spend £20 per year to save the daily hassle of turning things off when not using them. It would be cheap at three times the price.

[-]

Evari@reddit

The time I would spend reaching behind appliances and flicking switches is not worth £1-£2 per month to me.

[-]

Soomroz@reddit

I think it's more of "If only 10 million households did that across the country, it would reduce significant carbon footprint".

But again, there are far more easier, important and efficient ways we can reduce even 100x more carbon footprint, that we are not even paying attention to.

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

Right, but we aren’t making any decent changes to lower the carbon footprint, so this would be a decent way to start, no?

[-]

Soomroz@reddit

Its one of the things where you can't realistically expect majority to follow since there is no benefit to individuals. For example people are unlikely to go to the extents of turning off their appliances every night just for the saving of 25 quid a year. So even if you promote it, it is expected that only a few thousand households would do this practice.

We are better off spending our money, energy and time on things which would give larger and sustainable benefit for example transitioning to renewable energy, making appliances more efficient, investing into carbon offsetting projects etc.

Even if you want to taken an initiative at individual level, there are smarter ways such as travelling via public transport, choosing to work from home instead of travelling to work etc.

Its all about where the benefit lies and I don't see any meaningful benefit in this particular topic.

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

It’s not about saving 1 family £25 a year. It’s about collectively not wasting X amount of electricity, which is contributing to global warming.

[-]

Soomroz@reddit

Realistically how would you implement/enforce this?

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

Why does everything have to be carrot & stick? Why can’t it be about instilling good practises in to everyday life? Caring about the environment?

The fact you’re framing this as “how is it enforced” just shows how far we have to go

[-]

Soomroz@reddit

I never even once said its not a good practice or lets not care about the environment.

You're missing the point, despite it being a good practice, what benefit would you practically get out of this practice?

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

what benefit would you get

Helping the environment. Are we having the same conversation?

[-]

Imaginary-Friend-228@reddit

Just because you care enough about helping the environment to turn all your switches off does not mean anyone else does

[-]

Soomroz@reddit

You missed "practically". I'll take it as it wasn't intentional.

[-]

No-Understanding-589@reddit

Is there really any point in us turning off our plugs when countries like India/China are so heavily polluting, Russia causing an extra hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions with their wars etc

[-]

Erewash@reddit

For energy savings, just mandating efficiency specs on appliances or introducing a scrappage scheme for old vacs would be thousand of times more effective… Or, I suppose, they could insulate Britain’s houses.

[-]

BarneyLaurance@reddit

But it wouldn't. It's not a significant amount of money individually when you compare it to your individual daily income or daily spending.

It's also not a significant amount of money across the country when you compare it to the national daily GDP or daily total consumer spending, and it won't be a significant carbon footprint saving when you compare it to the national carbon footprint.

[-]

HelloW0rldBye@reddit

Get rid of crypto and we'll save so much energy we could all leave our TVs on permanently

[-]

Dunk546@reddit

Absolutely yeah. That's a lot of work for £20.

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

Rally hope you guys saying “it’s a lot of work” aren’t the same ones moaning about the hot weather on other threads

[-]

Dunk546@reddit

Global warming is not caused by TVs on standby.

I did a quick calc, using napkin maths & googled figures, & it seems like if you left your TV on standby for a year, as opposed to switching it off at the wall and leaving it off for the year, then you'd contribute about 7.8kg of Co2. Could be better. But for context, one single 100g portion of beef contributes 15.5kg of Co2. An hour of commercial airline flight is about 250 kg of Co2 per passenger.

But this is all small beans compared to manufacturing. For example, estimates for producing the battery for one electric car, range from 2.4, to 16 tonnes of Co2. Thats a lot of TVs on standby.

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

But it’s not about looking at this one thing in isolation though, is it? It’s about changing the way people engage with their environment in totality. Eating less meat, recycling, stop wasting energy, etc.

[-]

sojufox@reddit

I don't think the way to go about changing people's minds is to call them out for complaining about hot weather because they don't want to make a large change to their lifestyle that will have a miniscule effect on the environment.

As the guy above mentioned; eat a couple of veggie meals instead each week and you've made a far grander contribution than running around the house each night flipping switches.

[-]

EvilTaffyapple@reddit

Can’t you do both? Why is it either/or? Both is better than none.

[-]

sojufox@reddit

That's true, but the way you engage with people is likely to put them off doing either option; the worst of both worlds...

[-]

JustAnotherFEDev@reddit

It's 40p a week, that's a Freddo on Big Shop Day...

[-]

dnnsshly@reddit

And that's before you factor in the time wasted, while you're getting used to it, when you forget and turn on the kettle and come back 2 minutes later to find it's not boiled.

[-]

mattamz@reddit

You could buy smart plugs but it'll be loads more buying and putting them on all sockets in a house.

[-]

enygma999@reddit

They would also use standby power and defeat the point of the exercise.

[-]

mattamz@reddit

Oh yeah didn't think about that lol

[-]

claggypants@reddit

They use less than the appliances we connect them to though.

[-]

takesthebiscuit@reddit

My chiropractor bills would be more than the saving!

[-]

bus_wankerr@reddit

Also when I slap my arse down in the morning with a brew before work with the remote but then have to stand up again to go to the plug, then the TV does a random update and I'm sat contemplating my life and end up going back to bed.

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

Fair comment

[-]

Educational_Pin_1455@reddit

appliances and plug are designed to be left on continuously. Turning them off doesn't virtually nothing.

[-]

ThickTadpole3742@reddit

I turn off everything when not in use. But more because of my OCD fear of burning down the house than anything to do with saving money. The only two things consistently left switched on are the fridge/freezer and WiFi box.

[-]

twatsmaketwitts@reddit

Probably more likely to start a fire constantly turning everything on and off, then just leaving them on.

[-]

nirvamy@reddit

I don’t have OCD but I do the same thing for fear of my house burning down

[-]

HomeworkInevitable99@reddit

My mother (probably OCD) always switched everything off, and I used to laugh at her. But now I do the same.

I know three people who had bad house fires because their washing machines/dishwashers caught fire.

[-]

SmileAndLaughrica@reddit

While on/running? I would be surprised if a fire was started from a plug with negligible current running through it

[-]

welshdude1983@reddit

Loose wires can ark in a plug if not tightened properly.if something goes faulty in a device could start a fire or make anything metal go live in it. If you got an old consumer unit, it might not trip properly. Doesn't matter if the current draw is" negligible " if the phone charger you got from amazon is a piece of dangerous crap .

[-]

DamageEffective250@reddit

Sod’s Law your WiFi box is going to catch fire imminently.

[-]

Big-Finding2976@reddit

and an icy blast from the fridge/freezer will save the day.

[-]

Available-Ear7374@reddit

Modern kit is required to take less than 1 watt in standby.

£20 a year at 25p/kWhr = 80kWHr

8760 hours in a year

so that's about 9 watts

OK, that does align, 9 things on standby is \~£20 a year.

Hardly life changing though

[-]

IamlostlikeZoroIs@reddit

It’s something like 0.02 watts per second per socket if left on. It would cost more in food calories to keep turning it off and on every time

[-]

The_Deadly_Tikka@reddit

Hmm wonder what I'll put my £2 a month towards.

TBF I turn off switches that have nothing plugged into them (not sure why just was always told to)

I don't turn them off if something is in standby (especially things like TV's, the standby is actually a really important part of saving the data on the TV)

[-]

Saxon2060@reddit

I understand switching the TV off at the plug, especially because we don't use it most days. But my wife switches the kettle off at the plug and I find it to be a really minor annoyance. Surely that's not saving energy! And I flick the switch and walk away and come back and it hasn't boiled! R/mildlyinfuriating

[-]

Feisty_Outcome9992@reddit

If someone offered me a service that where for £25 a year I didn't have to turn my plugs off at the socket every time I wasn't using something I'd pay it

[-]

RobertGHH@reddit

The only thing that could use that much power is probably the microwave. You should leave the door open when not in use so it dries out and in my case that leaves the (incandescent) light on, I could imagine that burning quite a bit over a year.

I can't think of anything else though that would use any more than a few pence per year in a standard house.

[-]

EnvironmentalEye5402@reddit

I've always done this. If it saves me any money great, if not it's literally 1 second of my life. I turn off all appliances after use, only thing we can't do is the TV annoyingly but everything else is off at the wall

[-]

nwindy317@reddit

Ah yes. Famously prices go down when demand decreases. Because big companies can be trusted to play their part in this agreement.

[-]

repeating_bears@reddit

In a lot of cases you might be right, but energy is VERY linked with demand. Sources are ranked by price and the cheapest sources are used first. You should have noticed that energy is cheaper overnight than during the day

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

What? What contract are you on that has dynamic, hour by hour pricing?

[-]

repeating_bears@reddit

It's funny that there exists one that updates twice as often as the most hyperbolic example you could conceive of

https://octopus.energy/smart/agile/

Even if you're not on such a tariff, price is linked to demand. Just because it adjusts faster or slower doesn't mean the price isn't linked to demand.

Most people have peak and off-peak prices, which is a directly because lower demand times are cheaper

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

Whoa! Why am I not on this lol

[-]

yrro@reddit

If you switched and made no changes to your message you would find that overall you'd pay a bit less per year. But your bills would become very lumpy and most people prefer to pay the same amount every month even though overall they pay a little more for that convenience.

If you are able to make changes in the times you use energy (e.g., charge car, run washing machine, immersion heater, AC, or dishwater overnight) then you can make significant savings.

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

I'll look out for this once my fixed rate deal is up.

[-]

yrro@reddit

If you've any other questions check out /r/octopusenergy

[-]

QuickTemperature7014@reddit

People are on traffic that have half hour by half hour pricing.

[-]

atom_stacker@reddit

Apparently so! I never knew these existed.

[-]

Mel-but@reddit

Mine are all hidden away behind furniture, it would be ridiculously impractical. I’ve even got a lamp that is on 24/7 because the switch is broken and I can’t get to the plug

[-]

WitShortage@reddit

You do all that work, then your electricity company puts your bill up by £200 a year because the shareholders have had enough of lighting their cigars with mere tenners.

I know that "if you take care of the pennies the pounds take care of themselves" but you can drive yourself mad trying to save pennies and then an external factor comes in and swamps your efforts.

[-]

nerddddd42@reddit

I've got a smart extension lead (because I'm already too lazy to get up and turn off a plug) and it gives me energy usage stats. Leaving all the plug sockets on for a month is about the equivalent of boiling the kettle once a month, so relatively it doesn't seem like a big deal.

[-]

el_duderino_316@reddit

£20 a year is 38p a week. It's not happening, mate.

I'll turn my thermostat down 1 degree and make more impact that way.

[-]

BarneyLaurance@reddit

How many times are you going to turn your thermostat down 1 degree?

[-]

entitledtree@reddit

Depends which appliances tbh. Anything which is more likely to produce heat then yeah.

Lamps, TVs or anything along those lines, no I don't bother.

But anything like phone chargers, air fryer, toaster, hair dryer/straighteners etc. we absolutely do turn those off when not in use.

[-]

Journeyj012@reddit

you turn off your phone charges when not in use? USB doesn't deliver power if it isn't plugged into a device anyways

[-]

entitledtree@reddit

Everything I've ever read says that a charging brick will still be consuming a minimal amount of power when left plugged in

[-]

Journeyj012@reddit

But you leave your TV plugged in, which will use more when idle.

[-]

entitledtree@reddit

yeah the TVs and lamps are more to do with the fact that the plug sockets are behind furniture so it would be a pain to turn them off every time. But my chargers are all easily accessible so I just do it.

So I'll absolutely switch off any fire hazards, and then with everything else it's more like a "every little helps but it's only worth it if it's convenient", yanno?

[-]

QuickTemperature7014@reddit

Oh look an entirely reasonable point in a sea of people calculating the savings vs the minimum wage (as if that makes sense) to justify not wanting to bending down.

[-]

entitledtree@reddit

Thank you, I thought I was going mental with everyone drilling me on this

[-]

Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

Tv would cost you more than the USB chargers lol

[-]

entitledtree@reddit

Well lamps and TV's are a lot more to do with the plug sockets being hidden behind furniture.

But all of our phone chargers are very accessible so it's just very easy to switch them off in the wall.

[-]

thecrius@reddit

The naivete of thinking that prices would drop because people use less energy. You are so cute.

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

Could *

[-]

cornflakegirl658@reddit

I do this but I have ocd (diagnosed by a dr) and worry things will blow up otherwise haha

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

Haha I absolutely feel the same, it's worse since I've been living in a flat!

[-]

bizstring@reddit

Can’t be arsed

[-]

yrro@reddit

Not should you. Regulations have dramatically reduced the amount of power that devices consume, especially when idle.

The largest reduction in carbon emissions a person can effect is by flying less or not at all, then giving up their pets, then eating less or no meat.

Well there is one bigger change but it's even more controversial.

[-]

bizstring@reddit

I’m doing alright then. Never fly. Don’t have pets. Don’t eat a lot of meat as other half is veggie.

I’ll leave my plugs turned on

[-]

yrro@reddit

Impressive, you're doing better than me then!

[-]

tiorzol@reddit

Literally. Of all the things I give a fuck about this doesn't come close.

[-]

steveakacrush@reddit

You're not alone in this.

[-]

27106_4life@reddit

It's worth £25 a year to me to not have to reporgram my microwave clock or TV every fucking day

[-]

UniquePotato@reddit

Banning wireless phone charging would save more power nationally/ globally

[-]

jackrik3@reddit

I hate to break this to you: Electricity prices will never go down again. Mr British gas needs his 20mil pay rises every year to feed his children.

[-]

chainey44@reddit

Its bollocks. All such kit is now really efficient when not in use eg phone chargers pull less than a watt when the phone is charged or disconnected.

[-]

peelyon85@reddit

Toaster, kettle, microwave.

Don't bother with anything else. That's only because the switches are nice and easy to use.

[-]

Infinite_Ad4251@reddit

For £20 a year, who gives a fuck? It's verging into the self destructive obsession territory. Let's observe and take note on why our money isn't going as far as it did for our parents instead. That £20 a year could have been two and a half bedsits or a really nice Airbnb

[-]

BppnfvbanyOnxre@reddit

I am away for a couple of weeks so thought I could easily work out how much power the quiet house is pulling, It's complicated by the battery discharging at 21:00 and then charging at cheap rate so the only time the house pulls from the grid is when the battery is set to charge. Subtracting that out I reckon the load pulled by the house is around 2.25kWh a day. That includes 2 fridge freezers and the internet shite as well as anything that is on standby.

[-]

GotAnyNirnroot@reddit

I'd go a step further and unplug a slow-cooker, but that's only because I've watched "This is us"..

Not that I own one haha

[-]

Lloytron@reddit

When we went on holiday recently my wife turned all the sockets off except the fridge freezer.

Including sockets that nothing was plugged into

"Why did you do that?!"

"I don't know".

That sums this up.

[-]

Melon_exe@reddit

this is such a load of shit, I forget how little the general public understands about electronics and power consumption

[-]

OkIndependent1667@reddit

I’m happy to pay less than £4 a month to NOT dick about with plugs and switches and have everything ready to go when i need it

[-]

Important_March1933@reddit

It’s all bollocks these figures.

[-]

ServerLost@reddit

Nah, for £20 it's not worth it, that wouldn't cover a decent lunch these days.

[-]

saxbophone@reddit

I just switch them off when not in use because why wouldn't you? My computer monitors and hub are plugged into a multisocket extension lead with individually-switched sockets. Switching them off is something I mentally associate with switching the computer off.

[-]

JoeyJoeC@reddit

Id happily pay that not to care about it.

Its a drop in the bucket.

[-]

Wraithei@reddit

If it requires any inconvenience to reach the switch then it's staying on

[-]

Candid-Bike-9165@reddit

Modern electronics use less than 1w typically so £2-3 a year

things like microwaves with clocks might use a little more things like lamps shouldn't use any

[-]

DTTBP@reddit

I don't do it, and I couldn't give a shit.

[-]

Alasdair91@reddit

My PS5 gets arsy if you turn the plug off and I turn the TV on and off throughout the day so I honestly could not be arsed…

[-]

Shitelark@reddit

Is my toaster on stand-by mode?!

[-]

LordAnchemis@reddit

You can switch off all the appliances religiously to save £20 - but you'll probably burn that on something else
Ie. not worth it

[-]

anditails@reddit

Aye, you lot don't know you're bloody alive. Nowt like coming down int morning and having t' move tele plug from off peak to on peak socket just to watch ya cartoons.

Anyone for brew?

Life in my grandparents house in Yorkshire during the 80s and 90s. And their microwave had its own isolator switch.

[-]

Primary-Angle4008@reddit

I grew up in Europe where plug socket switches aren’t a thing so no I don’t switch anything off ever! Considering where my sockets are I’m happily paying the 40p a week instead of doing some weird not yet invented yoga positions to reach them

[-]

Robotadept@reddit

No sure about cost savings but the only things we leave plugged in at night are the WiFi router and the fridge/freezer everything else is unplugged

[-]

No_Refrigerator3947@reddit

Seems my place idles overnight at 250 watts

[-]

Western_Presence1928@reddit

I turn off every single socket when not in use. It's something I have always done.

[-]

No_Refrigerator3947@reddit

so 12p a day...
I lose more than this down the sofa..
Honestly, can't be arsed to go round switching everything off at night as I value my time at a greater value than 12p

[-]

speaky24@reddit

How ‘kin annoying would it be to have to reset the clock every time you used the microwave.

[-]

audigex@reddit

My Nan does

I have a hot tub, home server, smart home setup, and electric car… saving £2 a month would be a waste of time

[-]

Saltysockies@reddit

I turn everything off. I don't see the point in leaving anything on standby.

[-]

richbun@reddit

Learning how to use your tumble dryer effectively will save you about £200/year.

[-]

C_Ux2@reddit

How does one do this?

[-]

richbun@reddit

De-lint regularly, not just when warmed, and do the secondary filter too.

Put fast spin on washing machine first to remove excess water.

Keep ventilation around the machine clear, believe it or not, test shows this hinders.

Don't overload the dryer. Two fast can be cheaper than one overlong run (overlong, as in struggling to dry, rather than long standard cycle)

Don't mix items speed of drying, some things dry quicker than others, so you are over drying some and it takes too long to finish. Open it up and check to learn what. You'll be amazed.

Do towels alone. Do bedding alone and make sure it doesn't twist in, so use the right settings, and also do up the duvet so stuff doesn't get inside.

Lots more, there are sites that go onto all this.

[-]

C_Ux2@reddit

Thank you, very greatly appreciated!

[-]

teeeeeeeeem37@reddit

If the plug is easily accessible (kitchen counter top basically) it gets switched off. If I have to lean behind a piece of furniture, it's staying on.

I will, however, generally configure any devices I have to be in their lowest power standby mode OR turn it of off if I'm not going to use it for a while. My TV taking 10 seconds to turn on vs 4 seconds is not worth any amount of additional energy cost.

[-]

dvi84@reddit

Standby uses about 0.5 watts. Thats a nonsense figure.

[-]

glytxh@reddit

Spent a couple of months routinely switching almost everything off at the wall.

In those two months I saved not even £2 compared to the average I’d use over two months based on the previous years data.

Standby mode will do me fine.

[-]

New_Line4049@reddit

Personally I tend to turn stuff off at the socket, but it's nothing to do with energy saving. Theres 2 reasons I do it: 1) Electrical safety. My equipment can't experience a fault and burn my house down while Im in bed if it has no power. 2) Protection of the equipment. A spike/surge on the grid could damage any connected sensitive electronics. Switching the socket off doesnt fully protect you, it only disconnects the live, so if bad things happen on the neutral you still have issues.

You may think Im paranoid at this point, but honestly, I dont think the above scenarios are likely, I just think flicking the socket off when Im done is so easy its worthwhile. Even if such a situation is a once in a life time, if I protect myself from it once I think it was worth it.

[-]

Appropriate-Dig-7080@reddit

£45 a year isn’t even close enough to offset the inconvenience. I also doubt it’s anywhere near that high for me as I don’t have many appliances that use ‘standby’ energy.

[-]

EponymousSpaceWeevil@reddit

Sparky here: Switching off appliances at the socket (where practical) is an extremely good habit! I don't do appliance repairs all that often cos I fuckin hate the things but if you were to see behind the scenes of say, a fancy pants £2000 Samsung Dishwasher you might be more inclined to isolate at the power socket when not in use.

Underneath all that shiny plastic is a big metal box with some of the shoddiest and ill-conceived electro fuckery ever to curse the earth. Same goes for TV's, Computers, Washing machines, Ovens, Hobs, Toasters blah blah blah...

Seriously though; If you can do so without ruining your day it is a very good habit to form.

[-]

volunteerplumber@reddit

Even if it's £45/year. That's not worth the time of doing it.

[-]

JDoE_Strip-Wrestling@reddit

So £2-£4 per month for that daily effort... 🙄🙄

Not being funny, but anyone who is literally THAT tight-up financially should have their Number 1# life priority as getting a job / *getting a 2nd job if needed! 👈👍

[-]

Cold94DFA@reddit

If you said I could skip faffing around with plug sockets all the time in my already busy life, by paying some small change, like £45, I probably would.

I like to pay convenience fees so I have more time to shit post on Reddit.

It's the little things in life.

[-]

120000milespa@reddit

I have a solar system so dont really care 😉🤪

[-]

Proof_Drag_2801@reddit

Those switches aren't engineered to be switched on and off all the time. A new socket once a year will negate any saving, possibly more.

[-]

Sco_420@reddit

My time is worth more than £25 per year.

[-]

FidelityBob@reddit

As a percentage l of total consumption the saving is negligible. It's easy to say how much energy is saved but that has to be it in context.

[-]

FidelityBob@reddit

I would also say that there is now a requirement for new designs that standby current is minimised so power used leaving modern equipment on is nothing .

[-]

NoChoiceForSugar@reddit

Fair point, I hadn't thought of that. Tht figures aren't wrong either: appliances probably use 0.5-1W when they're 'off', so it does all add up to probably up to £50 depending on how many things are plugged in

[-]

MerryGifmas@reddit

It's a waste of time for what you would save.

[-]

NoChoiceForSugar@reddit

Well the point of this post is to show the affect on energy prices if everyone got involved

[-]

MerryGifmas@reddit

The post completely misses the point. It's a waste of time. If everyone gets involved then it's an even bigger waste of time. The amount you save would be a fraction of minimum wage for the time spent turning things off.

[-]

NoChoiceForSugar@reddit

It's not about what you save, it's about the amount of money collectively not being paid to energy companies.

[-]

MerryGifmas@reddit

So cost yourself £100+ in wasted time to keep £20 away from energy companies? Still dumb.

[-]

NoChoiceForSugar@reddit

Literally in the post it says £560,000,000

[-]

MerryGifmas@reddit

Which is a lot less than £2,800,000,000 isn't it....

[-]

IcyPuffin@reddit

I switch everything off at the socket, bar the fridge and the modem (although that gets switched off if everyone is out for longer than an hour or so).

Nothing gets left on standby and plugs get switched off after every use. Although I tend to leave the kettle on during the day, but I used to switch it off every time.

Why? It's not to save money - although I guess if im saving £20 a year by switching off then fair enough, that money is better in my pocket. It's more just out of habit. Plus it is a fire risk - no matter how small a risk it is still a risk. It also helps keep the gadgets lifespan a bit longer.

Its not even any bother to switch off either. All my plugs are easily accessible so im not having to put any effort in to switch off.

[-]

Inside_Morning5821@reddit

I'm calling BS on that. Someone you know will have a smart meter if you don't have one.

Unplug your fridge freezer, it'll be fine for an hour, and leave everything else on standby. Then go to the smart meter reading thing they give you and see what it says, likely 0p per hour.

If it says you're still using energy then go round the house turning appliances off to see what's drawing energy on standby.

If you've ever changed a light switch or plug socket and had to turn the fuse box off you might've seen the little red standby light on your TV stays on for a while, I was taught to to put as many things on standby before turning off the mains as they'll draw the remaining power in the cables.

Remember that Google can only find what's been written and will show the most popular things first.

That being said I always turn the plug off after I've charged my phone but never the TV.

[-]

SpikesNLead@reddit

£20 - £45 per annum is something like 0.23 - 0.52 pence per hour. I wonder if a smart meter's display would even show that level of usage or would it round down to zero?

[-]

Inside_Morning5821@reddit

Nice input. Did the maths too after your comment and confirm at £45 per annum it equates to .5 of a pence, surprised they don't bring back the ha'penny to cover it.

I think at the upper level they'd round it up like at a petrol pump, I always buy petrol by the 10 litre so they don't get tenths of a penny from me 🤣

Perhaps it's accounted for in the standing charge, which is free money for them in itself.

Admittedly I only have a TV with a tiny red l.e.d so it's likely free, I also pay more for the standing charge than I used so it's the least they can do.

[-]

SpikesNLead@reddit

All I know for certain is that I'd rather pay that fraction of a penny each hour than have the inconvenience of having to get to the plug sockets behind the TV to turn everything on and off.

[-]

Inside_Morning5821@reddit

I remember when TVs had an actual off switch on them and I'd get shouted at for not using it, meanwhile the lightbulb was burning 90w and hour 🤣

[-]

ohsaycanyourock@reddit

I only do it cos my husband is weirdly cautious about fire safety? But in my whole pre-married life everything stayed switched on all the time and I never had anything catch fire ever. It feels like such a waste of time but it makes him happy I guess 😆

[-]

Mesa_Dad@reddit

Less energy demand could mean price drops

That made my day thank you!!

[-]

throwaway_ArBe@reddit

The amount I'd spend on pain relief from the bending would be more than I'd save, ill be honest.

[-]

PresidentPopcorn@reddit

How about we turn everything off until the energy companies are forced to sell to the government. It's a stupid idea but it made me smile.

[-]

osirisborn89@reddit

Be assed though haha

[-]

Marble-Boy@reddit

My ma has done this since the 1980s.

Her leccy bill is still through the roof... and she has solar panels as well.

[-]

pruaga@reddit

So yes, some things I leave on standby cost money. I could go around and switch them off, then switch them on again.

But £20 a year is absolutely negligible and isn't worth my time, especially when off peak electricity is so cheap.

Related fun fact: displaying the time on your microwave probably uses more energy than heating things in your microwave. But this isn't because that clock is energy hungry, but because microwaves are very efficient.

[-]

Intruder313@reddit

My microwave has no clock or standby for this reason Seemingly the clock would use more power than most average user’s oven use

Most other devices I have are simpler or use micro watts on standby

[-]

Zardoz_Wearing_Pants@reddit

Vampire load.. I think most stuff nowadays goes into super low power mode - but if you have an old school PSU big block thing, they seem to stay warm even when not used, so must be using some. Wonder how much everyones internet routers combined uses, something most wouldn't turn off ever..

[-]

AutomaticInitiative@reddit

I've got smart meters, and smart plugs which let me monitor the energy use for whatever is plugged into it.

99% of my overnight use is the fridge, most of the rest is device charging which is mostly smart. Turning my pc speakers off at the wall every night isn't worth the 5p a year it'd save.

[-]

Superb-Ad-8823@reddit

Yes we try to do that. I attended a safety course through my work and this was part of the course material. Leaving them switch on can cause household fires.

[-]

Otherwise_Fly_2263@reddit

I’d waste a hell of a lot of time to save £20. Pass.

[-]

kahnindustries@reddit

It’s BS to get article clicks from boomers.

[-]

Complete_Resolve_400@reddit

I mean, microwaves are actually doing something when left on (most have a screen so thats taking some power) but even that is marginal, and shit like a phone charger is pennies

[-]

Bullet4MyEnemy@reddit

I would’ve guessed it was more in the order of pence than pounds, especially tens of pounds; 20-45 makes me think people must have like 19 TVs and leave them all on standby.

And even that number plucked from midair I’m not even sure I’d expect to add up to £45

[-]

cgknight1@reddit

It's predicted that a UK household can save anywhere between £20-45 per year if we turn off non-essential appliances when not in use: microwaves, phone charges etc.

I just don't care enough for 3p a day.

[-]

Kamoebas@reddit

I generally turn everything off except the Fridge/Freezer and TV/Boxes etc.

Always have and just used to it now.

[-]

slade364@reddit

I'm not doing it for 45 quid a year. Add a zero and I'd probably be convinced.

However, pretty sure the numbers aren't correct here.

[-]

Independent_Ad_4734@reddit

Only the Microwave,

[-]

vikingraider47@reddit

If everyone did and say saved £30 per year for example, you'd find your energy bill go up by whatever means to cover it. Rumours are abound that water is going the same way. if you think you saving water means you'll pay less, you'll be mistaken. If you used practically nothing best you can hope for is your bill will stay the same

[-]

prustage@reddit

Im not rich but quite honestly I dont think the effort involved is worth it for £20-40

[-]

CranberryCheese1997@reddit

I turn things off by habit. There's no thought process anymore. Turning stuff off at the plug was drilled into me as a kid. It's second nature to turn stuff off when not in use. It's takes next to no time to flick a switch. It's not worth me testing out if it really saves me that much money on my enegery bills or not, I just presume it does. The way I see it is that one or two things left switched on are probably negligible, but everything left switched on probably does make a significant difference.

[-]

CreativeSituation778@reddit

Everything left switched on doesn’t even make a NOTICEABLE difference.

[-]

MerryGifmas@reddit

Unless you've got some old electronic devices that are sucking up lots of power on standby, the time it takes to turn them off is worth more than the money you're saving. Even if you do have some old devices, you could just turn those off and leave the rest.

[-]

hhfugrr3@reddit

My back of the fag packet calculations suggest I could save a maximum of £20 a year turning everything but the fridge/freezer off. That's 5p per day and just isn't worth the hassle of not having shows I want to watch recorded and having to wait for the WiFi to reconnect every time I want to use something.

[-]

Sad_Lack_4603@reddit

This vampire power thing has been oversold.

My microwave draws 0.6 watts in standby mode. That's 5 kw/hrs per year. Or about £1 on my electricity tariff. My Mac Mini, about 2 watts, or £3.50. The USB phone chargers: About 0.1 watts each. My Sky box, in eco mode, draws about 0.5 watts.

Unless I start turning off things like my refrigerator, I'm not going to make a significant cut in my electricity bill. I keep a pretty close eye on my electricity usage via my SmartMeter. And my normal "base load" is typically around 100 watts. Turning off useful electronic doodads to save a couple of pennies here and there doesn't make much sense.

Sometimes the juice just ain't worth the squeeze,

Although, regarding Smart Meters: As soon as I got it, I noticed a mysterious 300 watt draw. Nothing on, no TVs, no stove, and the refrigerator was quiet. Turned out it was an immersion heater that never gets used. Turning that off has saved me a small fortune.

[-]

Conscious-Fig-7880@reddit

When did my 90 year old gran get a Reddit account?

[-]

cybertonto72@reddit

Stuff in the kitchen gets switched off when not in use, everything else the plugs are hidden behind something so they stay on

[-]

Sufficient_Purple_67@reddit

Done this for years as it also cuts down the risk of fire.

[-]

AlwaysHappens_urgh@reddit

Your source is a Google search, and you've not stated who the actual source is.

Really unhelpful..

You also need to bear in mind that sockets don't all have switches..

[-]

Mammoth-Difference48@reddit

I don’t have specific data but can offer one point of anecdotal evidence.

Since British Gas launched peak save (half price electricity at certain times - 6 hours on Sundays and other sporadic times during the week) I have religiously run my biggest energy users (dishwasher and washing machine and oven) during those hours thinking I would, over the course of the year, save a few hundred.

Got my statement this week and I have saved £20.20 in total. I assumed that was for the last month. Nope. That was my annual saving.

In this context, £45 a year for switches alone seems high.

[-]

MrDavieT@reddit

How will I know what time it is when I raid the fridge in the middle of the night for cheese if my microwave clock doesn’t tell me…? 🤷🏻‍♂️🫣

[-]

Davski_@reddit

I always switch off my unit (TV and consoles) at the plug socket whenever I sleep or go out of the house.

Not particularly because I expect to save a lot of money, or because I think it will make anything more than a tiny difference in saving electricity when, for example, every weekend dozens of football stadiums have those massive electronic advertisement displays lit up pointlessly around the pitches or how supermarkets have multiple screens and displays that are lit-up even when the stores are closed to customers.

I do it because it just makes sense. It's convenient to do it in my case, and, if it does save a little bit of something, I'd still like to save it.

[-]

DAAMblueday@reddit

I always switch off my unit (TV and consoles)

Games consoles? I couldn’t live without auto-update these days, especially when they can be annoyingly big at times.

[-]

mcmanus2099@reddit

What I think is a better suggestion is how much money would be saved if everyone installed a timer of their WiFi. How many households are pumping out WiFi between 12am-6am and no one is using it.

[-]

DAAMblueday@reddit

My ex used to make a deal out’ve this, wanting us to turn off plugs at night or when leaving the house etc. As others have already explained in comments, go through the hassle of turning multiple things off every day to save a few quid a year or just don’t bother and feel more relaxed? I know what makes the most sense to me.

[-]

yorkspirate@reddit

£45 a year extra isnt worth the effort to me, having to remember to turn it over ff and then remember to turn it on so i dont have to get back up off the sofa when i want to watch tv

[-]

Paulstan67@reddit

I turn it off if something is still.l plugged in that isn't in use and it's easier to switch rather than unplug.

It drives me mad when I plug something in and the socket is off!

[-]

-Pizza-Planet-@reddit

I can't be arsed. I leave it on. If it was a few hundred I'd probably do it.

[-]

fortyfivepointseven@reddit

Minimum wage is £12.21/hour.

It takes, optimistically, three seconds to flip a switch as described.

Yesterday I used sixteen appliances.

It would take me 3 seconds × 2 switches × 16 appliances to turn them on and off at the wall, which is 96 seconds.

The UK minimum wage is 32.56p/96 seconds.

A saving of £20-£45/yr is 5.48-12.33p/day (5.46-12.30p/day in a leap year).

You literally couldn't pay me to save this money. As in, it wouldn't be legal. You would be at risk of prosecution.

[-]

Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

I do it with the living room tv and microwave mostly because the TV will run in the background with the Xbox and it does waste electric. Microwave has a clock that I have no use for.

[-]

decidedlyindecisive@reddit

No, because I have ADHD and it already takes me half an hour to make a cup of coffee sometimes. (My record is 2 hours)

I lived with someone who did turn things off at the wall and made them tea with cold water several times by accident.

[-]

srm79@reddit

People could also opt for tube TV's instead of smart TV's and VCR's instead of streaming services and closing their Facebook and Instagram accounts would save mega-amp-hours of electricity

[-]

townshatfire@reddit

I use an average of 5kWh per day.

I just logged into my account and my overnight usage is 0.03kWh per half hour, or 60W per hour.

That's with a Ring Floodlight Camera, Ring Doorbell, two Wi-Fi routers, fridge, god knows how many "Alexa" devices, countless "Smart Bulbs" communicating constantly, and god knows what else.

There's no way I'm unplugging televisions to get that down to 58W per hour. All I'll do is wear out the capacitors in the telly and need to spend £500 on a new one be ause I might have been able to save 2p a year.

[-]

thirtysevengorillas@reddit

For me it’s a must. Probably does nothing but just nice to know.

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

Eases my mind in regards to fires. And apparently it could save us money, so does something good too!

[-]

Car-Nivore@reddit

Stop buying Chinese tat off of Amazon or Temu, buy stuff built to rigorous British Standards or equivalent, and you won't have to worry.

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

I never buy tech from Amazon.

[-]

Paxanimi1@reddit (OP)

They got themselves, they will be alright

[-]

AutoModerator@reddit

Please help keep AskUK welcoming!

When repling to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.