PS5, Xbox, Alexa, Google Home: Seven appliances adding money to your bill without you knowing

Our homes are filled with electronic devices with the average house containing 10 left on standby.

Research from electricity and gas supplier Utilita has revealed that the average UK household has 10 items left plugged in and switched off on standby.

READ MORE: The Lancashire area with the highest energy bills

An estimated 30% of UK homes have items left on standby that haven’t been used in a year, the MEN reports.

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 seven worst offenders when it comes to draining energy when left on standby:

PlayStation, Xbox and games consoles

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 seemingly insignificant, it works out at 4.45p a day, equating to £16.24 a year.

Printer

Like a TV, a printer uses around 40 watts of energy in use.

And when still left on standby it continues to eat up four ways.

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

Laptop

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

Make sure your laptop is unplugged when fully charged and switch it off when you’re finished, 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 12 months.

Phone charger

It’s definitely 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.

TV

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.

Baby monitor

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

Alexa and other smart speakers

While in use a smart speaker will only need about 3 watts of energy, however on standby that barely changes, 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 so if you have multiple devices throughout your home it will add up.

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