Negligible Usage?

charlie792

Just a random quick question - just wondering the electric usage of various appliances - for example leaving the microwave plugged in, my new one has a clock on it so it must be using electricity to keep the clock running - is likely to equate to a lot over a month or is it pretty negligible? Likewise as for leaving the wireless internet box turned on overnight etc?

To be honest I normally turn most things off but at present have my oven clock, microwave clock, landline phone and internet left on - it is worth turning it off to save a few pennies?

echoecho_2

Hi

The following link is for eon's website, click on Energy Menu at the bottom.

http://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/ExistingCustomers/Helping-you-save.htm

It will give you a rough idea of how much certain appliances cost. Of course, costs will vary based on different appliances and what price plan you are on- may still be a helpful indicator though.

HappyMJ

Most things on standby use around 1W to 5W per hour. Some more. Left on 24/7 it'll be around 1kw per year per watt. The energy monitor itself that I have uses 5W per hour so uses roughly about 0.1kw per week costing about 1 to 2 pennies per week. You could have spent more in typing the message on your computer and reading the replies.

victor2

Modern devices with digital clocks use a negligible amount of power on standby, as do a lot of TVs. I worked out that my 37" LCD TV costs me about 20p a year on standby, which is affordable to me so I don't unplug it or switch it off at the wall socket.
My highest usage of a device permanently on is the combination of my cable modem and wireless router. Between them, they use almost 13 watts and cost me just over 3p a day. A digital alarm clock in we have uses 1W and costs about a quarter of a penny a day to run. Our cordless phone base uses 1.6W and 3.4W when it's charging the handset.
All in all, it costs me about 38p a day for everything that is always switched on or in standby. There possibly is an opportunity to make a small saving there, but having done the easy stuff, I question if it is worth pursuing further to save just a percentage of the £30 a year these items cost me.

Worth checking what you have though, as you might find something you can eliminate. We have a DAB radio which is rarely used and consumes 9W in standby, so that is always switched off at the wall when not in use.