TV standby 29 April 2022 at 7:41PM in TV MoneySaving 11 replies 790 views

Cacran

My tv is left on standby along with my Virgin Tivo box and internet modem.
As we are looking to save on energy bills, can I switch them all off at the wall overnight, or will it cause any harm?

Neil_Jones

TV yes.

TIVO Box maybe, depends whether you schedule any overnight recordings.  If you power off, those won't happen.

Internet Router - not worth powering off, it costs peanuts to run as it is.

Rodders53

A fairly modern TV is likely less than 0.5 W in standby. 

Router: depends on Brand/model:  likely 6-10 Watts - power off overnight if you have no need of smart features overnight...  Say, 10 hours x10W = 36.500 kWh per annum x 30p = £10 a year saved.
TV at 0.5 W for the same 10 hours a day, = 1.825 kWh per annum =  55 p at 30p/kWh.

Tivo box in standby is relatively power hungry (like $ky boxes).  Later V6 boxes are better.  Tivo is in excess of 10 Watts... so the same £10 pa costing applies.  But do beware the issue of recordings being made if powering off overnight.
https://hackingathome.com/2017/11/02/power-usage-of-virgin-tivo-v6-tv-box-and-superhub/

Of course longer overnight off times could save more electricity and money.

Switch items on and off at the mains regularly can cause electronic components to fail.  Ensuring they are powered to standby first is best practice.

gill5blue

I decided to turn off my tv for the 20 hours a day I don't watch it, and have massively reduced my electric usage. My tv is supposed to used a small amount when it is on standby, but it uses a lot- I have a smart meter so can monitor the usage.
I would suggest switch it off and compare your usage.
gill5blue

Spies

gill5blue said:

I decided to turn off my tv for the 20 hours a day I don't watch it, and have massively reduced my electric usage. My tv is supposed to used a small amount when it is on standby, but it uses a lot- I have a smart meter so can monitor the usage.
I would suggest switch it off and compare your usage.
gill5blue

What's a lot then? If you have a smart meter you should be able to see exactly how much it shoots up by when its in standby?

gill5blue

so switching my tv on from off(not standby) my meter went from 0.02p per hour to 0.07p per hour
and from72 kWh to 250 kWh 
so switching my tv to standby my meter reads 0.04 and 130 kwh 
hth
gill5blue

Spies

60w standby power is nuts, however you do realise some TV's take about 5 minutes to enter true standby?

My Panasonic does this.

HumberFlyer

My TV uses 0.3w on standby.....equal to 3300 hours (137 days on standby for 24 hours a day)  to use one unit of leccy

jon81uk

EU law is it can't use more than 0.5W on standby, check the TV settings that it is going into full standby. Also its likely that turning it on at the wall doesn't go into standby, it turns it on, the TV boots up and then settles down into standby.

dave296565880

I have a BT Hub 6 which uses 9w when it is on. I currently switch it off at night and was wondering if there is an automatic way of switching it off.

giraffe69

Switching it off at night is likely to lower your speed when it is turned back on so for the tiny saving may not be worthwhile. You could always get a plug to turn it off at some time but it would take a long time to recoup the outlay.