This might seem, incredibly obvious to some, however, it wasn't obvious to me, until I tried a small experiment at home, which was Unplugging sockets! ~ Strange though it might seem, just by doing this, I save myself over 60p per socket, for every one thats left plugged in!

60p might not seem much, however, but when its multiplied by the number of 'live' sockets in yourr house and then added up, it amounts to around £30 per month. Multiply that by the cost per year and wow, its quite a saving!

Applied Education is the difference

As they say, "every little helps".

I wasn't aware of this myself until about 18 months ago and I like to think that it has made a difference to the bill

Switching the socket switch off should have an identical effect to unplugging. In both cases the circuit is being broken at the socket. At least, I think this is true though, not being an electrician, I may be wrong. Did your experiments compare unplugged with 'plugged into a switched ON socket', or did they compare unplugged with 'plugged into a switched OFF socket'? If the socket switch was on then the appliance would have effectively been in standby mode so it would be drawing current. If the socket switch was off then I am baffled that you found a difference.

Solar flare, you are correct.. simply switching the current off is identical to unplugging them totally

Plus you dont have the plug lurking around!

Just one word of warning. Constantly turning on/off a Broadband / Fibre router will look like a "line fault" at the exchange end.

Exchanges dynamically drop the speed bit by bit until their fund a "more stable level". Carry on doing that with a router and you'll be back to the old dial-up days in a few weeks

Just one word of warning. Constantly turning on/off a Broadband / Fibre router will look like a "line fault" at the exchange end.

 

Exchanges dynamically drop the speed bit by bit until their fund a "more stable level". Carry on doing that with a router and you'll be back to the old dial-up days in a few weeks

and re-setting everything with a clock - cooker, microwave, alarm....etc etc

Thats why I don't bother at all lol...

But I'd advise people to invest in an energy monitor at least. The one I got from British Gas a year ago has been handy for several reasons:

1) Working out what chews power the most in the house

2) Forgetting that heaters or cookers are left on

Don't forget that many ppl are concerned about alleged radiation dangers and invasion of privacy from smart meters. They set up an organisation fighting to stop their becoming compulsory, as is happening by stealth in some areas.

As regards the question of plugs and sockets, I once read a letter to a magazine in which the author said her grandmother always stuffed the plug holes with cotton wool to prevent expensive electricity coming out.

I wonder how much the cotton wool cost.

Lolcats!

Simple answer to sockets which can be turned off, but which you can't be bothered to turn off (TV on standby etc....) - buy a timer switch.