Oct price cap increase likely to push energy bill to over £10k... for a family of 4...

peter3hg

MariaAH said:

peter3hg said:

No iMac should use 30W when sleeping normally.
They have an option called Power Nap which enables the computer to do some updates while sleeping, but this should be intermittent. You may have measured it when it was doing this.

If it is constantly using 30W then something is preventing it going in to a proper sleep state. The Energy tab on the activity monitor should let you see if anything is preventing sleep.

TP monitor consistently measured this. The 30W was consistent through the night, so not intermittent. It may have been to do with my settings, but it's irrelevant now as I close down my tabs before putting the iMac to sleep, and that works for me.

As I have found out this month, things do not always use what they are supposed to! My fridge freezer is an example, using over twice the daily consumption it should. 

It may not have been Chrome stopping it sleeping, that could have been a coincidence and so it may happen again without you noticing.
It is worth double checking by looking on the activity monitor with all tabs open on the Mac just to make sure that it is Chrome preventing the computer going to sleep.

Magnitio

There is some discussion on the topic of Chrome preventing macs from going to sleep here:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/205228/chrome-prevents-macbook-from-sleeping

MariaAH

Magnitio said:

There is some discussion on the topic of Chrome preventing macs from going to sleep here:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/205228/chrome-prevents-macbook-from-sleeping

Thank you

michaels

Some more measuring
Microwave standby (clock only): 2w
Ethernet extender plugs: 3w each - we have 3 pairs = 18w
Ethernet hub (8 port, no wifi): 3w

1w 24x7x365 at 34p/kwh = £2.98 per year

Our new smart meter says we use about 100w (=2.4kw per day) when 'nothing' is on in the night

deano2099

MariaAH said:

Son's gaming PC/aircon etc = 2200 kWh (just over £50 a month at current rate and I am monitoring with TP plug)

May sound obvious but as it starts to get colder, make sure you have a TRV on the radiator in that room so it doesn't come on unnecessarily. If the PC puts out so much heat constantly it means you need aircon, it should be sufficient to heat the room itself in winter!

MariaAH

deano2099 said:

MariaAH said:

Son's gaming PC/aircon etc = 2200 kWh (just over £50 a month at current rate and I am monitoring with TP plug)

May sound obvious but as it starts to get colder, make sure you have a TRV on the radiator in that room so it doesn't come on unnecessarily. If the PC puts out so much heat constantly it means you need aircon, it should be sufficient to heat the room itself in winter!

Aircon has been moved out of his room 'to make space', aka cos he doesn't need it now and yes, TRV on radiator.