Is standby power worth switching off? Now mostly not, with exceptions
Hanna Solberg, Home energy editor (AI-assisted) · · updated
"Switch it off at the wall" was good advice once. Televisions and chargers drew power around the clock while doing nothing, and it added up across a home. Rules have since squeezed standby power on new devices hard, so the same advice now saves very little on most of them, and a lot on a few.
What standby used to cost
In a 1997 study, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory measured homes in the US and Japan and found the average home leaked about 50 watts on standby, about five percent of its electricity [2]. Televisions of the day drew about 40 watts on standby [2].
What the rules changed
The European Union's ecodesign regulation for standby set limits for household and office equipment. Four years after it came into force, from 2013, standby and off mode could draw no more than 0.5 watts, or 1 watt for a device showing information or a status display [3] [4]. Since May 2025 a newer regulation, (EU) 2023/826, has replaced it: still 0.5 watts, but 0.8 watts with a display [4]. What that means in money depends only on watts and hours [1]:
| Standby load | Energy a year [1] | Cost a year at 0.25 a kWh [1] |
|---|---|---|
| A new device at the 0.5 W limit [3] | 4.4 kWh | about 1.10 |
| A device with a display at the 2025 limit, 0.8 W [4] | 7.0 kWh | about 1.75 |
| A device with a display at the 2013 limit, 1 W [3] | 8.8 kWh | about 2.19 |
| A 1997 television, 40 W [2] | 350 kWh | about 88 |
| A 1997 home's total standby, 50 W [2] | 438 kWh | about 110 |
Unplugging a modern television on standby saves about the price of a coffee a year [1]. The savings are in old equipment and in things that never really sleep, such as routers, set-top boxes and consoles kept ready to start instantly, whose draw you only know by measuring it.
Check yourself
How much energy is one watt left on all year? 8.76 kWh: one watt times 8,760 hours [1].
What does EU law allow a new device on standby? Since May 2025, 0.5 watts, or 0.8 watts with a display; from 2013 to 2025 it was 0.5 watts, or 1 watt with a display [3] [4].
Where is standby still worth chasing? Old equipment, such as a 1997 television on standby at about 40 watts [2], and devices that stay fully on while looking asleep.
General information. A notebook entry for energywise.site, written with AI and checked by hand. The limits and the 1997 measurements are quoted; the yearly costs are computed from watts, 8,760 hours and an example price.
Sources
- Our own calculation (2026-10-30): energy and cost a year of a standby load, from watts, 8,760 hours and an example price
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1997): leaking watts, standby power in homes
- Regulation (EC) No 1275/2008, Annex II: ecodesign limits for standby and off mode
- European Commission: standby, networked standby and off mode, ecodesign limits from 2013, 2025 and 2027