A man who installed an electricity usage meter to help him lower his energy bill has shared the two appliances in particular that were adding to his costs - despite being on standby.
The meter plugs into any wall and measures how much power - and therefore, money - any device in the home is using, even if it is on standby mode.
Yorkshire Live reports how the energy-saver discovered his microwave costs an estimated £16 a year just to display the clock - soon to be £27 when the October price cap comes into force.
He also found his Sky Q TV box will cost £48.46 on standby alone based on further energy rises, or £60.79 to run while recording, averaged out for a year.
Another high cost was his Virgin Media Wi-Fi router, at £31.09 per year now or £52.86 on October price projections.
In general, he found that older appliances would often be the most expensive.
Explaining how he made the calculations, he posted on the UKPersonalFinance subreddit, saying: "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."
Another surprising finding was that phone chargers actually cost very little when they’re left plugged in.
Apple phone chargers even turn off their power draw when not in use and so cost nothing at all.
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.
"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."
In a time of rising energy costs, it is now more important than ever to be aware of where the big costs are and how they can be minimised.
Cornwall Insight is predicting the price cap could rise by £1,388 to hit £3,359 in October.
It could then rise by another £257 to reach £3,616 in January 2023 - £1,645 more than it is now, with the current price cap being £1,971.
Experts at the energy consultancy firm Auxilione are saying the price cap could reach £3,628 in October, before rising to £4,538 in January and peak at £5,277 in April.
