Residential average for June 2026, from the EIA. Your own tariff may differ; you can read it off your bill.
| Device | Watts | How many | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi router and modem | $19/yr | ||
| Set-top box or DVR | $24/yr | ||
| Games console in rest mode | $3.21/yr | ||
| TV on standby | $3.21/yr | ||
| Smart speaker | $9.64/yr | ||
| Security camera | $16/yr | ||
| Desktop PC asleep | $4.82/yr | ||
| Phone / laptop chargers left plugged in | $3.21/yr | ||
| Microwave clock | $4.82/yr | ||
| Robot vacuum dock | $4.82/yr | ||
| Doorbell / smart hub | $6.43/yr | ||
| Instant hot water recirculation pump | $0/yr |
- Always-on load
- 62 W
- A year
- $100
- Electricity
- 543 kWh
- Per watt
- $1.61
a year, always on
The rule worth memorising
A watt left on all year costs about $1.61 at the US average rate — call it a dollar and a half. So a 40 W recirculation pump is $64 a year, and a 0.5 W charger is $0.80. The rule tells you instantly which of those is worth walking across the room for.
Every appliance here that draws something while off
Standby is not a single number, it is a list. These are the appliances on this site that draw power when they are not in use, what that costs on its own, and how much of the appliance’s whole annual bill is spent doing nothing.
| Appliance | Standby | Idle hours a year | Costs a year | Share of its total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laser printer | 6 W | 5,970 | $6.57 | 67% |
| Garage door opener | 4 W | 8,753 | $6.42 | 90% |
| Furnace blower / air handler | 8 W | 4,000 | $5.87 | 3% |
| Central air conditioner | 15 W | 1,800 | $4.95 | 1% |
| Microwave oven | 3 W | 8,669 | $4.77 | 19% |
| Water softener | 3 W | 8,541 | $4.70 | 75% |
| Espresso machine | 3 W | 8,030 | $4.42 | 11% |
| Treadmill | 5 W | 4,650 | $4.26 | 18% |
| AV receiver | 3 W | 7,665 | $4.22 | 14% |
| Gaming PC | 3 W | 7,300 | $4.02 | 4% |
| Electric oven | 3 W | 6,900 | $3.80 | 6% |
| Robot vacuum | 3 W | 6,840 | $3.76 | 59% |
| EV charging (Level 2 home) | 3 W | 6,711 | $3.69 | 1% |
| Heat pump (heating) | 12 W | 1,650 | $3.63 | 1% |
| Pool heat pump | 10 W | 1,920 | $3.52 | 1% |
| Massage chair | 4 W | 4,700 | $3.45 | 48% |
| Coffee maker | 2 W | 8,651 | $3.17 | 16% |
| Games console | 2 W | 7,665 | $2.81 | 7% |
| Golf cart charger | 5 W | 2,850 | $2.61 | 2% |
| Mini split (cooling) | 8 W | 1,680 | $2.46 | 2% |
| Welder | 15 W | 880 | $2.42 | 14% |
| CPAP machine | 2 W | 6,205 | $2.28 | 10% |
| Electric furnace | 10 W | 1,200 | $2.20 | 0% |
| Tanning bed | 5 W | 2,380 | $2.18 | 12% |
| Sump pump | 2 W | 4,700 | $1.72 | 11% |
| EV charging (Level 1 wall socket) | 2 W | 4,530 | $1.66 | 0% |
| Pool salt chlorinator | 3 W | 2,880 | $1.58 | 4% |
| 3D printer | 3 W | 2,700 | $1.49 | 13% |
| Desktop computer | 2 W | 4,000 | $1.47 | 4% |
| Electric cooktop | 1 W | 7,673 | $1.41 | 3% |
| Range hood | 1 W | 7,590 | $1.39 | 13% |
| Toaster oven | 1 W | 7,050 | $1.29 | 5% |
| LED television | 1 W | 6,935 | $1.27 | 4% |
| OLED television | 1 W | 6,935 | $1.27 | 3% |
| Washing machine | 1 W | 6,900 | $1.27 | 7% |
| Electric clothes dryer | 1 W | 6,900 | $1.27 | 1% |
| Heat pump clothes dryer | 1 W | 6,720 | $1.23 | 2% |
| Dishwasher | 1 W | 6,600 | $1.21 | 3% |
| Air fryer | 1 W | 5,900 | $1.08 | 6% |
| Electric fireplace | 2 W | 2,660 | $0.98 | 1% |
| Laptop | 1 W | 4,800 | $0.88 | 4% |
| Robotic pool cleaner | 2 W | 2,365 | $0.87 | 9% |
| Central vacuum system | 2 W | 2,360 | $0.87 | 7% |
| Rice cooker | 1 W | 4,600 | $0.84 | 8% |
| Electric sauna heater | 2 W | 2,250 | $0.83 | 1% |
| Electric underfloor heating | 2 W | 2,240 | $0.82 | 1% |
| Projector | 1 W | 4,300 | $0.79 | 3% |
| Electric pressure cooker | 1 W | 3,488 | $0.64 | 8% |
| Grow light | 1 W | 2,920 | $0.54 | 0% |
| Ceiling fan | 1 W | 2,880 | $0.53 | 5% |
| Infrared heater | 1 W | 2,520 | $0.46 | 0% |
| Space heater | 1 W | 2,400 | $0.44 | 0% |
| Computer monitor | 0.5 W | 4,000 | $0.37 | 3% |
| E-scooter charger | 0.5 W | 4,000 | $0.37 | 3% |
| Bread maker | 1 W | 1,640 | $0.30 | 3% |
| Window air conditioner | 1 W | 1,540 | $0.28 | 0% |
| E-bike charger | 0.5 W | 3,000 | $0.28 | 2% |
| Portable air conditioner | 1 W | 1,400 | $0.26 | 0% |
| Sous vide circulator | 1 W | 1,200 | $0.22 | 4% |
| Humidifier | 1 W | 1,120 | $0.21 | 2% |
| Electric smoker | 1 W | 340 | $0.06 | 1% |
What a whole-house always-on load looks like
The most useful measurement you can take is your own 3am reading: switch nothing off, just look at the meter or a monitor when the house is asleep. Whatever it says is running 8,760 hours a year.
| If your overnight baseline is… | A year | Costs | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 W | 263 kWh | $48 | Very lean. A fridge and a router, essentially nothing else. |
| 60 W | 526 kWh | $96 | Normal for a connected household with a fridge, network gear and a few small devices. |
| 100 W | 876 kWh | $161 | Slightly high. Worth an hour switching circuits off one at a time. |
| 150 W | 1,314 kWh | $241 | Something substantial is running unattended — a second fridge, a pump, a dehumidifier. |
| 250 W | 2,190 kWh | $402 | A large continuous load. At this level it is worth finding before anything else on your bill. |
| 400 W | 3,504 kWh | $643 | A large continuous load. At this level it is worth finding before anything else on your bill. |
How to find it, in the order that works
- Take the overnight baseline above. If it is under about 60 W there is nothing to find and you can stop.
- Switch circuits off at the panel one at a time, watching the total after each. The circuit that drops the number is the one to investigate. This takes about twenty minutes and needs no equipment beyond a monitor or a meter you can see.
- On the suspect circuit, unplug things one at a time. Anything with a compressor, a heating element, a pump or a hard disk is a better candidate than anything with a charger.
- Meter the winner for a fortnight to get its real annual figure, rather than extrapolating from one reading.
The order matters because it goes from cheapest to most effortful, and most households find the answer at step two.
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Questions
How much does standby power actually cost?
One watt drawn continuously for a year is 8.76 kWh, which at the US average of 18.34¢ costs $1.61. A typical household’s always-on load is somewhere between 50 W and 100 W, so $80 to $161 a year — real, but far smaller than the “vampire power is a quarter of your bill” claims suggest.
Is it worth unplugging chargers?
No. A modern phone charger with nothing attached draws well under half a watt, so leaving four plugged in all year costs under $3.21. The devices worth attention are the ones with a fan, a display, a hard disk or a heater — set-top boxes, recirculation pumps and anything keeping water or a room warm.
What is the single biggest always-on load in most homes?
Excluding the refrigerator, which has to run: a cable box or DVR, an old set-top box, or a hot water recirculation pump on a timer that was never set. A recirculation pump running continuously is roughly 40 W, which is more than every phone charger in the house combined by a factor of twenty.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.