Do appliances use more power on standby?
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The average 32-inch TV uses 123 watts when on – rising to 235 watts for a 42-inch screen – but even when switched ‘off’ with the remote, it’s still using five watts. An Xbox Series X uses about 133 watts when on and around 15 watts on standby. However, some set-top boxes can use almost as much power on standby as normal running. A 2013 study at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California found that satellite decoders used 16.15 watts on average when they were on and 15.66 watts when they were off at the remote – that’s 97 per cent of full power. Even just five watts per appliance can quickly add up. The average UK household spends £250 (around $328) annually on electricity to power devices that are supposed to be off.