Man horrified by cost of two appliances on standby…

Man horrified by cost of two appliances on standby after measuring every item in his house

A man has shared the staggering cost of how much his standby items could cost him per year after measuring every item in his house.

His investigation follows a continuous sharp increase in energy prices, with average household energy bills predicted to hit £355 a month this winter. Hoping to identify where he could pinch his pennies, the savvy spender bought himself an electricity usage meter.

The meter plugs into any wall and measures how much power any given device in the home is using, even on standby. He was then able to use this information to calculate the yearly cost of leaving the item on standby.

There were two household appliances in particular that were adding a huge amount to his bills, shocking the gentleman, especially as one of them is an everyday kitchen item for many people. YorkshireLive reported he posted his findings on the UKPersonalFinance subreddit, stating: "Present cost is based on the Octopus caped rate of 29.58p per kwh. Projected cost assumes a 70% increase in October although it looks like it will be higher than this."

His main finding was that older appliances cost more to run when left on standby, whereas newer items - and phone chargers surprisingly - had the least impact on bills while on standby.

He explained the plug successfully turned off its power draw when not in use., therefore not contributing to any financial strains. However' he was shocked by one stealthy cost originating in the kitchen

He said: "Contrary to belief, leaving a phone charger plugged in will not end up killing penguins in the Antarctic. It's worth checking your older appliances, for me the microwave was an eye opener. I'm paying £16 (soon to be £27) a year just to have the thing display "00:00" at me all the time. It's now switched off at the wall when not in use.."

Another item, popular in many homes in the UK, was a Sky Q TV box. This on standby costs £48.46 when using October's cost projections.

"Sky TV... I didn't expect over 9 watts when it's sitting there doing absolutely nothing. Both boxes are in 'eco mode'.

"I'm considering having my broadband router and ethernet switch on a timer. A timer costs around £7 and would pay for itself in just over a month if it switched them off for 8 hours a day. I may also do this with the Sky boxes."

Ofgem' has recently changed proceedure to calculate the price cap every three months, instead of six, eaning regular price rises are going to become more commonplace still as the effects of Brexit, Covid and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to keep wholesale energy costs high (despite record profits from energy firms like BP and Shell). Ofgem said the more frequent reviews allow energy companies to provide more accurate pricing for customers.

The latest forecasts from Cornwall Insights predict bills will rise to £4,266 in January, before rising again in April to £4,427 - the previous forecast was for £3,729 in April. This means the average household spend will increase to around £355 per month - more on that here..