Most of a household electricity bill is not the toaster or the phone charger. It is the small fleet of devices sitting in standby around the clock: the cable box that never sleeps, the game console waiting for updates, the router that never switches off. The US Department of Energy puts standby power at 5 to 10 percent of residential electricity use, commonly 100 to 200 dollars a year once every idle device is added up.
Standby cost is standby watts times idle hours divided by 1,000, times your electricity rate, same formula as any running cost, applied to the smaller idle draw a device pulls when it looks off but is not.
Standby cost for every device
[hed_sb_index]The worst offenders, and why
Cable boxes and DVRs are consistently the largest single standby load in a home, often 15 to 30 watts around the clock to keep recording schedules live. Game consoles in instant-on or rest mode, soundbars listening for a signal, and desktop computers left in sleep rather than shut down follow close behind. None of these are broken; they are designed this way on purpose, trading a few dollars a year for instant response.
What actually helps
- A smart plug or timer on entertainment equipment. Cuts power outside the hours you actually watch or play.
- Disabling instant-on and rest mode where the device allows it. Usually in the settings menu, at the cost of a slower startup.
- Leaving some things alone. Routers, security systems, and anything needing overnight updates are poor candidates for scheduled power-off regardless of the saving.