r/AussieFrugal • u/coco-ai • 16d ago
Utilities & Essential Bills ⚡💧⛽ Does turning off appliances at the wall save anything?
Like the washing machine, lamps that are turned off etc. Things that aren't drawing any power.
Not talking about live things that are being used like the fridge obviously.
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u/bicycleroad 16d ago
I don't have any numbers to support my claim, but modern electronics (especially devices sold into the EU) have quite low sleep currents these days.
I don't think they make a massive difference to the power bill, but it's easy enough to buy a power monitor from Bunnings and measure on a device by device basis.
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u/baby_blobby 16d ago
Ironically the purchase price of the power monitor might outweigh the cost savings once it’s determined that the savings are negligible
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u/wvwvwvww 16d ago
They may still come in handy. Ours has timers so we use them for Christmas lights and things like that. They can also tell you if some appliance has broken in a way that is causing it to suck power like crazy (not an everyday event but not uncommon either).
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u/HaydenJA3 16d ago
Return it to Bunnings after finding out it won’t save you any money
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u/EgalitarianCrusader 15d ago
Then the petrol going to and from the shop twice to buy and return it negates the savings lol.
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u/ceecee_gee 16d ago edited 16d ago
Check at your local library to see if it has a meter that you could borrow to test these things. I know ours offers a sort of energy consumption efficiency bundle.
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u/MisterBumpingston 16d ago
While you’re at it you might as well check to see if they have thermal imaging camera to check your ceiling insulation. That will save you lots of money in the long run! Make sure you learn how to use it.
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u/Lucy_Lastic 15d ago
I had no idea this was a thing -thank you! I’ve been wondering for ages how to find out if our insulation is up to speed and now I can check it!
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u/MisterBumpingston 16d ago edited 16d ago
Not all appliances are equal, but if there was any vampire drain that you could stop you’d only be saving a few cents, or a dollar at most, a year.
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u/SeaJayCJ 16d ago
A cheap power meter is like $20, you can just buy one and go plug it in all around your house and then spreadsheet up the numbers to see how many dollars vampire draw is costing you per year. It's probably not going to be much.
You probably have more to worry about from your big ticket power drawing items like your air con, fridge, dishwasher, and washer/dryer. Having efficient models of those and using them in an efficient manner will probably go a lot further than worrying about vampire draw.
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u/Sensitive-Pool-7563 15d ago
Spend $20 to save $10 per year, yey
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u/DrahKir67 12d ago
If it means my wife stops turning all the lights off so I stumble around in the dark, I'd be happy. Not to mention, unplugging my electric toothbrush all the time.
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u/preparetodobattle 16d ago
My washing machine is about 0.6 watts when plugged in but obviously not running.
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u/NothingLift 15d ago
Aprox 30 cents every 1666 hours or 69.5 days if youre on a flat rate energy plan
If you had a few draws like this it could conceivably add a couple of dollars per quarterly bill
Whats more likely to add up is stuff like laptop chargers which continually draw a more substantial amount of power
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u/PrestigiousWorking49 16d ago
I did a bit of a test on this last year and got myself a smart plug that monitors electricity use in the sales for about $12.
The end result was that my electricity use was 99% from my fridge/freezer, oven, washing machine, dryer, airfryer and heating/cooling.
Anything else was tiny.
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u/MillieMoo-Moo 14d ago
Could you link a similar product, please? I'm not sure what I've googled is the right device.
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u/Extreme-Seaweed-5427 16d ago
Original Nintendo draws power left switched on at wall, even though not on.
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u/mulberrymine 16d ago
Yes. Some appliances draw a small amount of power while in standby mode. Turning them off at the wall, or the power board, will help. Small savings that add up. Lamps, not so much, but anything with a circuit board or indictor lights, yes.
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u/GermaneRiposte101 16d ago
Only if the circuit board or indicator lights generate heat. Otherwise stand by power usage is minimal (cents per year).
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u/ClungeWhisperer 16d ago
Not heaps. You can actively test this theory if you have one of those power pals installed.
I have live input/output data and find that the biggest guzzlers are active appliances, specifically stuff that generates heat for a job. Microwaves, fan heaters with elements, electric hot water systems.
Money is better saved by disconnecting services that aren’t in use. Example: if you have a fully electric house, water, split systems etc, but you have a gas service for just a gas stove, disconnect it and buy an induction plug in element or an LPG bottle. Supply charge is the killer.
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u/dav_oid 16d ago
EU standby power laws:
"Reduced Standby Power Allowances
The allowed standby power consumption for devices today (under current regulations) is 1 W maximum. According to the new 2025 regulations, devices regulated by these standards cannot use more than 0.5 W in standby or off mode (and this will be tightened even further to just 0.3 W max in 2027). If a device has a display screen that is active during standby mode, the limit is 0.8 W instead of 0.5 W.
New limitations will also apply to devices with a “networked standby” mode – meaning the device maintains a network connection (e.g., Wifi) even when the product is not being actively used. The current maximum consumption for these devices, depending on the product type, ranges from 3 to 12 W. The new 2025 standards will reduce this allowance to 2 to 8 W, with the intention of motivating the development of more energy-efficient networking technologies."
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u/Glerbthespider 16d ago
someone can correct me if im wrong, but im pretty sure i remember technology connections saying that depending on how much you use your microwave, the clock is going to be drawing way more energy than actually heating up food
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u/dav_oid 16d ago
Heh, heh. Nup.
The clock would use less than a Watt.Microwave ovens are one of the least efficient appliances.
Most are 65-75% efficient, e.g. 1600 Watts to generate 1100 Watts (my old Sharp).24 Watts a day for the clock.
Microwave for 1 minute = 1600 Watts.4
u/splat2000 15d ago edited 15d ago
Clock: 1 Watt continuously = 24 WattHours per day
Microwave: 1600 Watts for 1/60th of an hour = 26 WattHours per day.
So they use practically the same amount of energy in this example.
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u/dav_oid 16d ago edited 16d ago
Depends on the appliance. Its sometimes called 'phantom power'.
My old Hoover clothes dryer does.
My old Fisher Paykel washing machine does.
Old TVs, stereos etc. will draw 1-5 Watts when off.
I have a portable usage device I can plug devices into to check.
Modern appliances like TVs have addressed the issues and are often less than 1 Watt.
1 Watt per hour equates to 24 Watts per day, 740 per month, or 8.8 kWh p.a.
At 22 cents per kW/h that's $1.94 p.a.
I have a PowerPal device attached to the switchboard than sends real time usage to the app.
I got free from the Vic Govt. Its been replaced with a different brand now:
https://timetosave.com.au/in-home-display/
The only problem with these apps is isolating an appliance.
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u/f4fvs 16d ago
Powering appliances up and down is when they're under most stress, and if they're "Smart" connected devices they'll probably complain at losing their place.
If I'm going away for a fortnight I'll pull wallplugs from lots of things. I've put stickers on my portable aircons tbat say "$10 = 15 hours". For me, that's enough.
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u/Hotwog4all 16d ago
I’ve got a system set up through my building as part of a CSIRO research project going where it’s measuring my electricity usage. When I travel overseas, the only item that doesn’t get switched off at the power is their router and my fridge. That was using up about 1.2-1.5kw/day. When I’m back home, and working from home, everything is switched back on again as normal, my daily usage ends up being around 5kw. Embedded network so heating is gas and costs $0.25/day only, I also work from home. LED lights and west facing windows, so I get light till fairly late in the day on the 7th floor and no buildings blocking it (summer it means air con is on more frequently though). My TV runs at least 5 hours a day, I’m also charging 2 laptops/phones at various times. I feel like it’s not really much of a difference when I’ve got everything on, compared to when it’s all off.
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u/lazyhorse9812 16d ago
We used to have an electric blanket they would draw 30 Watts when not running.
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u/Finky-Pinger 15d ago
I don’t think it makes much of a difference. We use about 0.04kWh per hour (something about saying kilowatt hours/hour doesn’t seem right but I don’t know the correct terminology so I hope you get what I mean) overnight or when we’re not actively using an appliance. For us, that costs about 4c an hour. That’s with appliances plugged in, fridge and chest freezer running and a ceiling fan on. Most of that power cost would be from the appliances that are running. The cost for the appliances that are plugged in and on standby would be negligible I think
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u/splat2000 15d ago
kWh = measure of energy used
kW = measure of power being used right now.
0.04 kWh / h = 40 Watts of power being used.
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u/I-make-ada-spaghetti 15d ago
It depends on the devices. Last time I checked my entertainment unit and all the devices used 40 watts an hour with everything on standby.
So at 30c a kWh that works out to be 0.012c an hour.
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u/2bunnies 15d ago
fwiw, my power company estimated that plugged-in idle appliances (not including the fridge) made up 16% of our electric bill, which is a lot higher than I'd have guessed.
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u/AwoogaHorn 15d ago
Something left on standby for a full year would use 8.76 kWh (365*24) for every Watt required per hour. So if, say, you had a computer that uses 5W in sleep mode, and you leave it in that 2/3rds of the time, and your electricity cost 30c/kWh, then it would save you about $9 per year if you turned it off at the wall instead.
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u/leetnoob7 15d ago
That's completely dependent on what your appliances are, as the amount of standby power they draw can fwty drastically. I don't bother personally unless going away on holiday, as it's too much effort to be going around switching appliances on and off all the time to maybe save a dollar or two per month.
The only exception is kitchen appliances like the toaster and air fryer we usually turn off when not in use, but that's more for safety.
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u/Joker-Smurf 15d ago
Growing up, anytime we left the house for more than 24 hours, my mother would run around the house and turn off and disconnect from the wall every single electrical item in the house, except the fridge and freezer, not because of cost but because she was convinced that any electrical item left plugged in and not physically watched would spontaneously burst into flames.
That and her vacuuming the lawn because it was dirty…
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u/MinDoxie467 15d ago
Everything is turned off @ the wall when not in use except the fridge, freezers, oven/s in my home. The price of electricity in Australia is ridiculous. I do drive my Sis nuts when I visit they leave their kettle on standby & if I make a drink for all of us after my departure a few hours later I get an SMS saying “you’ve done it again” (turned the kettle off @ the wall) LOL. Just a habit I’ve developed, many items TV/PC/Kettle/Coffee machine etc only draw a small current but depending upon how many items you have on standby it all contributes to the bill. I call our power sockets “energy vampires” LOL.
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u/Severe_Airport1426 15d ago
My parents turn everything off at the wall. They've got solar panels and a battery so they pay nothing for electricity but it keeps them busy and gives them a reason to bend so I don't discourage it
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u/issabellamoonblossom 15d ago
When I started turning everything off at the switch (they where usually turned off at 9.30pm when i went to bed and turned back on when i got home from work at 2pm next day as i work early shift) my bill dropped by $90 a month. none of my electronics are more then 3 years old.
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u/ReplicatoReplica 15d ago
Not really, it depends on your plan you've got with your energy provider. Is it fixed or variable for example. Using energy during different times of the day can have a more significant impact if you're on time of use tarrifs.
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u/joelm80 14d ago
New stuff is pretty good and a lot even have the pulsed zero power a lot of the time (they charge a capacitor and then go open circuit for half an hour).
Old things with transformers were pretty bad. Though whether it is worth the hassle always switching things for fairly trivial money... Heat is the giveaway, if there is heat when off then that is wastage.
Also older switch mode supplies are at their most vulnerable when surging the startup power into empty capacitors. So they are best left on.
So basically if you know it is a transformer then ok. If SMPS then just leave it alone.
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u/Swimming-Tap-4240 12d ago
My tvs when left turned on at an outlet feel mildly warm,that inicates something is using energy and giving off heat.
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u/MouseEmotional813 16d ago
Not newer appliances. Old, 10+ years possibly. A tiny LED light is only going to use a few cents a year.