Does switching things off at the plug make a difference?

[Bemyclementine]

My ectricity bill isn't high compared to some, but has still almost doubled. I'm looking at ways to reduce costs especially in the winter. I went into debit last winter and am just out, so should build up a little bit of credit now. I rarely use the tumble dryer (never in summer) or dishwasher, but am thinking about things that are left plugged in and switched on.

Kettle
Washing machine
Tumble dryer
Microwave (no display though)
radio
TV
Dvd player
Lamps
Phone charge

I don't understand how it could help, but appeared to be enlightened.

That saud, I just looked at my smartmeter and as it stands with nothing actively on, I using £0.01per hour. Can't get lower than that cantit?!

Things like your Radio,TV, DVD Player and charger left on standby all use a small amount.

i was switching things off but husband said he’d heard on the radio that it barely makes a difference. So I don’t know know.

Things that do not have a power light are not using electricity.

The older the device the more likely it will pull power until unplugged

Things that listen for a signal - like from a remote control - will be using a bit of power to listen

But in most homes the amount that could be saved is tiny

I've been turning off everything that was on standby at night. My smart meter says I'm using 11p overnight now (just fridge freezer and have amphibians so their tanks). It was 19p. Sounds like nothing but it's a few pence over a few hours that add up fast.

I heard on the radio that you can save hundreds of pounds a year doing it. I tried but I was the only one doing it so gave up

This is why I think we need more education about exactly what uses electricity and how much because people don't have a clue! (Me included until I started looking into it). Leaving things on standby mode is usually minimal. There are posts everywhere about people sitting in the dark but, again, unless you have giant chandeliers the cost of lights are miminal. A room with one main energy saving lightbulb left on all day would still only cost 3p.

Whereas its the things like long showers and washing machine/tumble driers that really ramp up the cost. Going from 2 showers to 1 a day, or pegging out washing once a week rather than tumble drying it will usually cost more than keeping every single light in a house on, all day. You can usually run an electric blanket for 12 hours for less than the cost of sticking the heating on for 30 minutes, etc.

People should make a cost/benefit analysis to work out what things are worth cutting back on as they will actually save money,and what will just lower their quality of life for minimal financial difference.

Yes there was an article on the bbc about this recently. The amounts weren’t huge but it definitely worth switching things off at the plug.

What @latetothefisting said. Turning off LED bulbs, unplugging TVs on standby saves tiny, insignificant amounts. Look at things that heat or cool if you want to cut your energy use, not spend ages turning everything off at plug every night and then back again in morning.

I have been wondering this too- we have a ton of electrical equipment left on standby, devices, printers, kettles, computer equipment, domestic appliances, chargers.

I don't think there's much difference for appliances under about 10 years old due to legislation that means the standby current has to be below a very low level, I think 0.5 W. So they use about 4 kWh per year, which is just over a pound a year at the current price cap.

Most of your usage will be due to things that produce heat, electric shower, tumble dryer, oven and washing machine and dishwasher, to a lesser extent.

Plus possibly if you have inefficient lighting, or high powered fans on gaming PCs, or fans for cooling (or air conditioning). TV/audiovisual etc, phone chargers etc will be hardly anything in comparison.

Even our 25 YO fridge freezer, which probably costs about twice as much as a modern one to run probably 'only' costs £10-15 pm to run (this is something I'm looking at changing, but while it still works, I'm still looking at a payback time of a few years).

I turn things off to prevent them going on fire if they over heat or have some malfunction. It takes very little time to turn stuff off, I didn’t even notice that I do it now.

I think over time it will add up even if it seems an insignifcant amount over one night.

What I am actually wondering about is a charger left plugged in, but not attached to a phone etc but still switched on at the mains. I am assuming it will be drawing a current but can anyone else confirm? (I also think its a fire risk)

Is this post motivated by lack of money?

My advice is unsolicited but here goes. Spend your time thinking about generating more income instead. It'll be easier to make an extra £5 than save it on electricity by turning off switches I assure you.

What a strange question.
Surely there are many reasons that people want to cut their energy usage.
Lack of money may be one, making best value of their money may be another- or people may want to cut power usage for environmental reasons.
I earn more money than I need- but that doesn't stop me from seeking out the best deal I can, getting the best value in a supermarket shop, cutting waste in my energy consumption.

I turned everything that could be turned off overnight, and saved....

2p!

It wasn't worth the hassle, I won't be doing it again.

Whether motivated by money or not, we all need to do our bit.The less energy we all use, the less likelihood there is of the human race becoming extinct.

What a load of b...ks. Turning off appliances or not at night is not going to make inconsequential differences to our bills or to the the state of the planet. We are but 1 small island on this Earth, compared with China, India, the USA , South America and parts of Africa, we are producing very little CO2. There have been warming events in Earth's past history well before we were around to f...k things up. It's all part of the rich cycle. I'm not saying we should be more responsible for what we do - but honestly....is it going to make any difference overall? I don't think so

"not going to make inconsequential differences" not sure I get that bit.

It's not a load of bollocks.

There are around 28 million households in this country. We all probably have about ten things plugged in at any one time. That is TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION devices that could be switched off or unplugged when not in use, just in the UK alone.

There's no point in saying 'Oh fuck it, nobody else does it so I'm not going to bother either'.

We have to start somewhere.

@OldTinHat my smart meter us showing around 51p first thing in the morning! That seems a little compared to you. That said, it's rarely over 1.30 by the evening (currently) unless I do a lot of washing.

I might unplug everything tonight and see what happens!

Well that will include your standing charge too.

They were talking about this on the Jeremy Vine Show a few weeks ago. Phone chargers left plugged in and things like tvs on standby use around £20 per year. Laptop type chargers were the shocker at around £60 a year. That's not including actually charging anything, just being left plugged in.

I was really shocked as we have multiple chargers constantly plugged in all over the house and our sockets don't have on/off switches. We have 9 standby devices and 4 laptop chargers constantly plugged in in the living room alone. So potentially £420 per year wasted

I think that the whole 'save the earth' movement has left it a little bit late. I was lamenting rain forest destruction several decades ago. Nobody listened I was concerned about atmospheric pollution and car/diesel emissions several decades ago. Nobody listened. The burning of fossil fuels, environmental pollution and destruction, plastic waste, sending our plastic and toxic waste to developing countries for 'processing', fast fashion, toxic fibre production, farming and agriculture - the list goes on. Does anyone really think we've caught all this in time. We reached the tipping point years ago. It's damage limitation now.

That 51p will probably include your standing charge