These are the home appliances increasing your energy bills when they’re not being used

An energy supplier has revealed the common home appliances that are adding the most money to monthly energy bills.

As households across the UK brace themselves for the impending hike in energy bills, people are making an extra effort to cut back on their electricity use to keep their monthly bill as low as possible.

However, while most of us have been opting for an extra blanket and pair of socks to avoid turning the heating on, electricity and gas supplier Utilita has revealed the household appliances that have been raking up the bills by being left plugged in all day.

Remarkably, the supplier claims that an estimated 30% of UK homes have items left on standby that haven’t been used in a whole year.

@andreas_haslinger / Unsplash

Archie Lasseter, sustainability lead at Utilita, said: “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.”

Here are the most costly household appliances to leave on standby:

Phone Charger

Let’s start with an obvious one; most of us are guilty for leaving our phones on charge for a lot longer than they need, or for even leaving the charger plugged in at the wall all day long.

While it may not be the biggest cost of the year, 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 phone.

Xbox and Playstation

We all know someone who’s guilty of this – Utilita claims that leaving a Playstation on standby costs 2.41p per hour played, while an Xbox costs 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 seemingly insignificant, it works out at 4.45p a day, equating to £16.24 a year.

@lppoitras / Unsplash

Television

Modern televisions are very deceptive in the sense that, if they’re not switched off at the wall, they could very well just be on standby, despite you turning it off via the remote.

Utilita states 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 amounts to £16.24.

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Laptop

Working from home has become the norm for millions of people all across the country, so we’re sorry to tell you that laptops use up a surprisingly high amount of energy.

Utilita says running a laptop for five hours will cost around 6.95p as the device uses about 75 watts of energy.

The trick is to make sure your laptop is unplugged when fully charged and switch it off when you’re finished using it, rather than just closing the lid and leaving it on standby, which slowly drains the battery.

@burst / Unsplash

Printer

While most wouldn’t think a printer could impact the monthly energy bill, the sneaky devices can actually use a lot of energy while sitting idle on standby.

Like a television, a printer uses around 40 watts of energy in use and, when still left on standby, it continues to slowly eat up this energy.

By the end of the day, this totals 1.78p, equating to £6.50 a year unnecessary added to your bills.

Baby Monitor

Just when you thought having children was expensive enough, it turns out their baby monitors can also add to the monthly electricity bill.

According to Utilita, the average baby monitor uses around 15 watts of energy when in use and 3 watts when on standby. Over the year, that’s an extra £4.87 on your energy bill.

Obviously the baby monitor needs to be on when your baby is sleeping, but it might be worth switching it off completely during the day.