Household
Standby Electricity Cost
Calculate standby power cost — find out what it really costs
W
Measure with a smart meter or energy monitor
h/päev
€/kWh
Example price — enter your actual rate
Annual standby cost
Daily consumption0,12 kWh
Monthly consumption3,65 kWh
Annual consumption43,8 kWh
Annual cost7,88 €
Example price — enter your actual electricity rate.
How does it work?
Standby power (also called vampire power or phantom load) is electricity consumed by devices that are plugged in but not in active use. Most electronics draw 0.1–15 W in standby.
A typical home may have 50–150 W of total standby load, costing 80–240 €/year at example prices — money wasted doing nothing useful.
EU Directive 2009/125/EC limits standby to 0.5 W (simple devices) or 1–2 W (remote-standby). Older devices can draw much more.
Example
Example — typical home:
- TV standby: 0.5 W × 20 h/day = 3.65 kWh/year
- WiFi router: 7 W × 24 h/day = 61.3 kWh/year
- Set-top box: 5 W × 24 h/day = 43.8 kWh/year
- Games console: 15 W × 20 h/day = 109.5 kWh/year
- 3× empty chargers: 0.3 W × 24 h/day = 7.9 kWh/year
Total: ~226 kWh/year → ~€41/year at 0.18 €/kWh (example)
Assumptions
- •Electricity price is an example — use your actual rate
- •Power draw is constant in standby — measure with an energy monitor for accuracy