How standby devices are quietly inflating your electricity bill

In some cases, leaving a plug in the socket can be compared to throwing money away. It can still consume electricity even if you're not using a particular device. After conducting detailed analyses, we can identify five devices that are especially prone to consuming energy, although we often don't realize it.

Devices that draw power in standby mode are so common that you likely have all of them in your home. Knowing how much energy these devices use over the course of a year could be significant.

It is common practice to leave the charger in the socket. Many of us unplug our phones in the morning and rush to work, forgetting about the charger. While it draws only a tiny amount of energy (1.2 W), it can cost about $1 CAD over a year.

The set-top box can be a big surprise because if we don't switch it to standby mode, it continues to consume power even when the TV is off. Annual costs can be up to $23 CAD.

The TV in standby mode also uses a small amount of energy (1-5 W), which can translate to $1-$5 CAD over the course of a year. Newer models of TVs, however, have built-in systems that help save energy.

Frequent use of a laptop also affects energy consumption. Constantly charging the device damages its battery, and not unplugging it from the power source costs us about $2 CAD annually. It's worth spending that money on something else.

Kitchen appliances such as gas stoves, microwaves, or ovens often have a clock display function. Even when we are not using them, they consume power to run the clocks (about 1.2 W), translating to $2-$5 CAD annually.

In summary, devices left in standby mode consume about $30 CAD per year. Therefore, it's worth unplugging chargers from the power source and switching the set-top box to standby mode — small actions significantly reduce electricity bills!