Vampire devices: the '£200' is 13 gadgets added up; turning a home off standby saves about £45

Where the £200 comes from

The 'over £200' figure in this week's headlines matches a list the price comparison site Quotezone published on 23 October. It names 13 appliances “that Brits commonly leave plugged in” and says they “could cost more than £200 a year” on standby.

The total, £213.32, is the sum of one of each: a Wi-Fi router (£34.80), a TV (£32.70), a set-top box (£26.70), a microwave (£23.20), a games console (£17.20), a computer (£15.80), smart speakers (£13.90), an electric shower (£12.60), a dishwasher (£9.80), a laptop (£7.32), a tumble dryer and a washing machine (£6.80 each) and a coffee machine (£5.70).

Quotezone's footnote says the costs were recalculated at Ofgem's current cap rate of 26.32p per kWh and rounded up to the nearest 10p, citing ClearScore and, for some items, Which?. It does not give the wattage or the hours behind each one. The warning is Quotezone's, not a government body's or a regulator's.

What official figures say a whole home's standby costs

The Energy Saving Trust's quick tips page, last updated on 6 October 2026, says: “You can save around £45 a year in GB and £55 in NI just by remembering to turn your appliances off standby mode.” That is for a whole home, not one device. Its quick tips page has the rest of its list.

The government's Household Electricity Survey measured it directly. It monitored 250 owner-occupier homes across England in 2010 and 2011, and an analysis published on GOV.UK in 2013 found standby “accounts for an average for all 250 households of 23 W, continuously”: 201 kWh a year, or 5.1% of their electricity.

At Ofgem's 26.32p per kWh, 201 kWh comes to about £53 a year, on our reading. The report itself warns its standby figures “could be biased, and higher than the real figures.” The £213 is more than four times the Energy Saving Trust's figure for a whole home.

The devices ranked by what they cost to leave on

The survey also measured average standby power device by device. We costed each at 26.32p per kWh, left on standby all year round. This is our reading of the survey's averages, not a figure the government publishes:

Sky box (18.9 W): about £44 a year. Other set-top boxes (14.1 W): about £33. Broadband modem (7.3 W) or router (7.1 W): about £16 to £17. Hi-fi (6.8 W): about £16. Laptop (3.8 W, which includes battery charging): about £9. Desktop computer (3.1 W): about £7. The games consoles measured then, Wii and PS3 (2.5 to 3.3 W): about £6 to £8.

Then the small stuff. Microwave (2.2 W): about £5. TV (1.4 W) and tumble dryer (1.4 W): about £3 each. Washing machine (1.2 W): about £3. Dishwasher (0.9 W): about £2.

The survey notes that set-top boxes and Sky boxes “do not have a standby mode, because they are always active to some degree”, which is why they top the list. These are 2010–11 devices, and some samples were small. The survey did not measure smart speakers, electric showers or today's consoles.

Where the two lists differ most

TVs and microwaves. Quotezone's £32.70 for a TV works out at roughly 14 W, day and night, on our arithmetic. The survey's average TV drew 1.4 W on standby, about £3 a year, though the survey says its TV figures are among its least reliable. The Ecodesign rules made in 2021 set a basic standby limit of 0.5 W, with small allowances for extra features, for new electronic displays, including televisions, sold in Great Britain.

Quotezone's £23.20 for a microwave means roughly 10 W all year. The survey's average microwave drew 2.2 W, about £5. On routers and set-top boxes the two lists are closer: these are the devices that actually run all the time.

What to switch off, and what to leave on

The Energy Saving Trust says: “You can turn almost all electrical appliances off at the plug without upsetting their programming.” It also says: “You may need to leave some satellite and digital TV recorders plugged in so they can track any programmes you want to record.”

Fridges and freezers stay on. In the Trust's words, “some appliances, like fridges and freezers, need to be on all the time.” For anything else you're unsure about, it says to check the instructions.

In the survey, standby was 5.1% of household electricity. Our guide to lowering your electricity bill sets the £45 next to the Trust's other savings, such as drying clothes without a tumble dryer.

Tighter limits proposed for new products

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero opened a consultation on 16 October on tighter standby limits for new products in Great Britain. It says: “Many electronic products currently draw 0.5–1 W or more in standby.”

It proposes bringing the new limits in from Q2 2027, in a single step. Responses close on 24 December. These are proposals, not law yet, and they would apply to new products, not ones already in your home.