* How much standby electricity they consume
* How long they remain unused
* Your electricity rate
* How frequently you disconnect them
* How efficiently your other appliances operate
For one household, unplugging unused electronics may produce a modest difference.
For another, the impact may be barely noticeable.
The only way to know for certain is to measure actual consumption.
## Measuring Electricity Can End the Argument
Instead of debating whether an appliance uses electricity in standby mode, homeowners can measure it.
Energy-monitoring devices can be used to determine how much electricity a particular appliance consumes.
This can be surprisingly educational.
You might discover that one device uses almost nothing when idle.
Another might consume more than expected.
Once you know the numbers, you can decide which devices are worth disconnecting.
That changes the discussion from:
**“I think this saves electricity.”**
to:
**“We measured it, and this device actually consumes this much.”**
For households trying to reduce their electricity bills, that information can be much more useful.
## The Better Strategy: Don’t Focus Only on Plugging and Unplugging
If the goal is to lower electricity costs, a more effective strategy is to look at the entire household.
Ask where the largest energy consumption is happening.
Heating and cooling?
Water heating?
Laundry?
Cooking?
Lighting?
Old appliances?
Poor insulation?
Inefficient windows?
An unnecessarily high thermostat setting?
These areas may offer much greater opportunities for savings.
For example, reducing unnecessary heating or cooling can potentially make a more noticeable difference than unplugging a handful of low-power electronics.
Likewise, using energy-efficient lighting and appliances can reduce consumption over time.
## Small Savings Still Matter
There is one argument in favor of my husband’s habit that I can’t completely dismiss.
Small savings are still savings.
If someone unplugs an unused device, they aren’t using electricity to power it.
If hundreds of millions of households each eliminated even small amounts of unnecessary consumption, the combined effect could become meaningful.
