Standby Power: What "Phantom Load" Really Costs

By Juan Molina · Updated · How we calculate

Standby power, also called phantom or vampire load, is the electricity a device uses while it is plugged in but not doing its job. For most modern devices it is tiny. For a few it is not, and those few are worth finding.

Key points

  • Every watt drawn around the clock costs about $1.60 a year.
  • Most modern devices use less than one watt in standby.
  • Game consoles, cable boxes and idle desktop computers are the ones worth checking.
Bar chart of the yearly cost of a constant standby draw of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 watts at the U.S. average electricity price
Yearly cost of an always-on load, by size.

The arithmetic of always-on

A device that draws one watt around the clock uses 8.76 kWh in a year (1 W × 8,760 hours ÷ 1,000). At the U.S. average price of 18.31 cents per kWh, that costs $1.60 a year. Every always-on watt in your home costs about that much.

Constant drawEnergy per yearCost per year at the U.S. average
1 watt8.76 kWh$1.60
5 watts43.8 kWh$8.02
10 watts87.6 kWh$16.04
25 watts219 kWh$40.10
50 watts438 kWh$80.20

This table is the whole subject in miniature. A one-watt standby light is not worth a thought. A fifty-watt load that never switches off costs as much as running a refrigerator.

What usually draws very little

Devices sold in recent years are generally designed to use well under one watt when off or asleep:

Unplugging every one of these in a typical home might save a few dollars a year in total. It is not where the money is.

What can draw a lot

These are worth checking, because their standby or idle draw is often ten watts or more:

Figures vary widely between models. The only way to know what yours uses is to measure it.

A worked example: one entertainment center

Suppose the corner of a living room holds these devices, with standby figures that are illustrative rather than measured:

DeviceStandby draw
Television0.5 W
Game console, instant-on mode10 W
Cable box with DVR15 W
Soundbar with network standby5 W
Total30.5 W

30.5 watts around the clock is 267 kWh a year, or about $48.89 at the U.S. average price. Almost all of it comes from two devices. Changing the console to its energy-saving mode and putting the rest on a switched power strip overnight would recover most of that, while the television alone accounts for less than a dollar.

How to measure it

  1. Plug the device into an inexpensive plug-in watt meter and read the watts while it is "off".
  2. Leave it connected for a day to capture devices that wake themselves up.
  3. Multiply the watts by 8.76 to get kWh per year, then by your price per kWh. Or enter the watts in our calculator with 24 hours a day.

For a quick check of the whole home, look at your utility's hourly usage data, if it offers it, for the hours between 2 and 4 a.m. Whatever your home is using while everyone is asleep is your always-on load. Subtract the refrigerator and you have your standby total.

What to do about it

Then move on to the larger savings. Standby power is the last item, not the first, in our list of ways to lower your electric bill.

Frequently asked questions

Do appliances use electricity when turned off?

Many do, if they have a remote control, a clock, a display or a network connection. Most modern devices use less than one watt in this state, which costs under two dollars a year.

How much does standby power cost per year?

About $1.60 a year for every watt that is drawn around the clock, at the U.S. average price. Ten always-on watts cost about $16.04 a year.

Is it worth unplugging chargers?

Not for the savings. A phone charger with nothing attached uses a small fraction of a watt, which costs a few cents a year.

Sources

Electricity prices are the EIA figures for July 2026. Wattages are typical values; check the label on your own appliance.

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