Standby costs

Cardew

We have countless posts on MSE and articles in the Media extoling the virtues of switching off electrical appliances(particularly TVs) at the plug rather than leave them on Standby, and coming up with the vast amounts of money it will save the average household.

A well known and respected consumer organisation have published on their free access website(i.e.no subscription required) some typical figures of ANNUAL Standby consumption.

Average annual cost

In the table below, you'll find the average annual standby energy costs for a device on standby for 20 hours per day (or 6,750 hours per year) next to its powered-on cost, based on four hours a day. 

Turning all of this tech off at the wall will save you £24.18. Every little helps when you’re grappling with energy bills capped at £2,500 (do note this is an estimate for the average user – if you use more, you’ll pay more), but it’s a far cry from some media reports claiming you could save £15 a year by turning off your TV alone.

Tech device	Annual standby costs	Annual powered-on costs
TV	65p	£51.33
Blu-ray player	94p	£4.75
Smart plug	£1.22	£1.72
DAB radio	£1.86	£2.94
Turntable	£1.89	£3.19
TV streamer	£2.78	£3.75

Although impossible to quantify, it is highly probable that the cost in reduced life of appliances by constantly switching power on/off will greatly exceed the savings on the electricity bill.

Reed_Richards

Cardew said:Although impossible to quantify, it is highly probable that the cost in reduced life of appliances by constantly switching power on/off will greatly exceed the savings on the electricity bill.

I think something that is "Impossible to quantify" should not be stated to be "highly probable".  And in fact it is perfectly possible to test and quantify whether switching power to an appliance on/off reduces its lifespan.

dunstonh

– if you use more, you’ll pay more), but it’s a far cry from some media reports claiming you could save £15 a year by turning off your TV alone.

I have an OLED which has to remain in standby and should not be turned off at the plug.   I found that different settings on the TV affected the use in standby.  In particular leaving the TV wifi enabled or the ability to connect to mobiles.   They gave a background rate of 27wH.  With them off, the background rate dropped too low to be picked up by the TAPO.

ariarnia

wow. i'm shocked. generic info might not apply to all devices and all situations

Cardew

Reed_Richards said:

Cardew said:Although impossible to quantify, it is highly probable that the cost in reduced life of appliances by constantly switching power on/off will greatly exceed the savings on the electricity bill.

I think something that is "Impossible to quantify" should not be stated to be "highly probable".  And in fact it is perfectly possible to test and quantify whether switching power to an appliance on/off reduces its lifespan.

Semantics rule!

born_again

Which begs the question. Who only uses the TV for 4 hours a day. 
Which actual manufactures devices were they using & were they the latest or older products that many will have?

As to switching on & off. All I can base my findings on. Is the MIL used to go through kitchen products a lot more than us. As they were turned on & off for each use... 

MattMattMattUK

born_again said:

Which begs the question. Who only uses the TV for 4 hours a day. 
Which actual manufactures devices were they using & were they the latest or older products that many will have?

As to switching on & off. All I can base my findings on. Is the MIL used to go through kitchen products a lot more than us. As they were turned on & off for each use... 

I would hazard a guess at most people with a job use the TV for less than four hours a day, even less on average if they also have a social life.

Mstty

That response is so loaded I don't know where to start. Very set in it's old school ways I would suggest

Not all partners will work at the same time and one may be the primary home body. 

Not everyone now goes out to work they work from home so less travel time and more (TV time)

The use of "most" people seems loaded.

Families with kids TV on early and after school then into the evening. Sometimes multiple TVs(very likely)

I could go on but you get the jist. 

ariarnia

i think it really depends but 4 hours as an average seems fine. its probably like the average energy use at 3000 for electric or whatever where people are saying that's ridiculously unrealistic because they use twice as much when the next person uses half that much. so on average its' about right even if no one uses exactly that much. 

especially as more people have personal screens (laptops and tablets and phones) so people can be sat in the same room watching or reading completely differnt things with the tv turned off. its' not like the 90's when the hole family sat to watch prime time bbc 1 every evening or you had to watch the clock for when the soap was about to start. 

we probably have it on somewhere around 2/3 hours on a 'average' day after dinner. that feels about right becayse its maybe a film or 3/4 episodes of something on prime or a disk from a box set. i'd say more often its a couple of hours in the evening after dinner and before the kids go to bed (i dont have the tv on when i'm home working. because i'm working. they do homework and pocketmoney chores before dinner so no tv). and some hole weeks if we're going out in the evening especially in summer when its bright and warm until late then its not on at all. but other days if its a wet winter weekend maybe it will be on for most of the day. 

chris1973

Those figures are kind of ironic, given the number of people who i've read are using smart plugs to turn their TV off standby.......

wild666

I think that turning stuff off at the wall socket has no effect on the life of the product, before remote controls were added to the likes of TV's some people used to turn them off at the wall socket when they weren't using it. Many older products from the 60's were regularly turned off at the wall socket when they weren't in use and they lasted as long, if not longer than the modern stuff.