According to the Consumer Electronics Association, Americans on average have added 25 more electronic devices to their homes causing more energy to be consumed.
Take a phone charger as an example… leaving it plugged in without a phone connected still uses 0.26 watts of electricity. When the phone is charging it consumes 2.24 watts. Of course, that 0.26 watts by itself might not be a big issue. But if most of your electronic devices are doing that, it can add up to as much as 10 percent of your bill, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Cable boxes are a big culprit of 24/7 energy use. Leaving your cable box plugged in for a year and never turning it off adds, on average, $17.83 a year to your electric bill. Toss in a DVR function and that total jumps to $43.46, Department of Energy reports.
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