Televisions, games consoles, speakers, monitors and other electrical devices have become such a normal part of British homes that it is easy to forget how many remain connected to the mains around the clock.
Switching something off with its remote control or power button does not necessarily mean that it has stopped using electricity. Many devices enter standby mode instead, where they continue to draw a small amount of power while waiting to be used again.
On an individual device, the cost can be tiny. Across a house with dozens of electrical products, however, those small amounts of electricity can add up.
With an estimated 29 million households in the UK, even modest unnecessary consumption becomes significant nationally.
Why do appliances use electricity when they are switched off?
Standby power is the electricity equipment uses when it is not performing its main function but remains connected and ready to operate.
There are good reasons for it.
A television may need to respond instantly to its remote control. A smart speaker needs to remain connected to the network. A router obviously needs power to provide an internet connection. Other products may use electricity for clocks, displays, sensors, memory functions, network connections or software updates.
The important distinction is that not all standby consumption is unnecessary.
There is little point in switching off a router every time nobody is actively browsing the internet, for example, while refrigerators, freezers and equipment performing essential monitoring functions need continuous power.
The opportunity is therefore not to disconnect everything in sight. It is to identify equipment that stays powered for long periods when there is no practical reason for it to.
What does standby electricity actually cost?
Ofgem’s average electricity unit rate under the energy price cap for customers paying by Direct Debit between 1 July and 30 September 2026 is 26.11p per kilowatt hour.
That helps put seemingly insignificant standby consumption into perspective.
Consider a device continuously drawing 5 watts.
Five watts is 0.005 kilowatts. If it consumes that amount continuously for 24 hours, it uses 0.12kWh per day. Over 365 days, that becomes 43.8kWh.
At 26.11p per kWh, that would cost approximately £11.44 a year.
A device drawing only 1 watt continuously would cost roughly £2.29 a year at the same electricity rate.
Neither amount sounds particularly alarming on its own.
The problem is that most homes don’t contain just one electrical product.
Televisions, set-top boxes, games consoles, computers, monitors, printers, sound systems and numerous other devices can all spend substantial periods of the day unused.
Ten devices averaging a continuous 1-watt draw would consume 87.6kWh over a year, costing about £22.87 at the current average capped electricity rate.
If the average were 3 watts each, the equivalent annual cost would be around £68.61.
These examples are illustrations, not estimates of what a particular household is wasting. Actual standby consumption varies considerably between products, and modern equipment can consume very little in standby.
What would that mean across Britain?
The Office for National Statistics estimates that there were 29 million UK households in 2025.
This is where relatively small household figures become much larger numbers.
If every UK household unnecessarily consumed just 10 watts continuously, that would represent around 2.54 billion kWh of electricity over a year.
At 26.11p per kWh, the theoretical cost would be approximately £663 million.
At 20 watts per household, the figure would double to around £1.33 billion.
These shouldn’t be interpreted as estimates of Britain’s actual standby electricity bill. We do not know that every household wastes 10 or 20 watts continuously, and some standby consumption is necessary.
The calculation shows the scale involved. Across 29 million homes, it does not take much unnecessary consumption per property for the national figure to become substantial.
Which devices are worth checking?
Rather than unplugging everything, households can start by looking at devices that sit unused for long periods.
An old television in a spare room that is watched twice a month is a different proposition from the television used every evening. The same applies to gaming equipment, monitors, printers, speakers and other equipment that may remain connected despite being used infrequently.
It is also worth checking the actual consumption rather than assuming.
A plug-in electricity monitor can measure how much power a particular appliance is drawing. This provides a much better basis for deciding whether switching it off is worthwhile.
Some modern products have extremely low standby consumption, meaning the financial saving from disconnecting them may be negligible.
Automation can help, but it needs to be used sensibly
The obvious problem with manually switching devices off at the wall is remembering to switch them back on again.
Timers and automation can remove some of that inconvenience.
For suitable appliances, smart plugs and sockets can provide greater control over when power is available, including scheduled switching and remote control. This can help where equipment routinely stays powered during predictable periods when nobody uses it.
That doesn’t make a smart plug an energy-saving device on its own. Smart plugs consume a small amount of electricity themselves, and the savings depend entirely on what is connected, how much electricity that equipment would otherwise consume, and how the plug is used.
Some appliances also shouldn’t be connected to remotely controlled or timed sockets. Equipment with high loads, heating elements, motors, or safety-critical functions requires particular care, and you should always check the electrical rating and the manufacturer’s instructions.
Don’t confuse standby costs with standing charges
Another distinction is worth making when looking at electricity bills.
Reducing standby consumption can reduce the amount of electricity a household buys, but it does not eliminate the electricity standing charge.
Under the July to September 2026 price cap, Ofgem’s average electricity standing charge for a Direct Debit customer is 57.19p per day.
That charge applies regardless of how much electricity is used, so switching appliances off will affect consumption rather than the standing-charge element of the bill.
Small savings still need to make sense
Energy-saving advice can tempt you to turn every watt into a crisis.
That isn’t particularly helpful.
If a modern appliance consumes almost nothing in standby and is used frequently, repeatedly switching it off at the wall may achieve very little.
But the opposite is also true. Leaving multiple older or rarely used devices powered continuously simply because each one uses “only a little” electricity can create unnecessary consumption over months and years.
The sensible approach is to understand what uses electricity, focus on devices that spend long periods unused, and automate them where appropriate.
With electricity currently averaging 26.11p per kWh under Ofgem’s price cap, a single watt running continuously costs a little over £2 a year.
One watt isn’t much.
Multiply it by numerous devices, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — and then by 29 million UK households — and those seemingly insignificant amounts of electricity start to look rather different.
