Standby power: how much electricity your Perth home wastes when you're not using it

Standby power — sometimes called "vampire power" or "phantom load" — is the electricity consumed by devices that are switched off or idle but still plugged in. It's a persistent background draw that appears on your Synergy bill regardless of whether you used those devices.

The average Australian household wastes 10–15% of its electricity bill on standby power. For a Perth household spending $2,400/year on electricity, that's $240–$360 consumed while devices sit doing nothing useful.

How standby power adds up

Individual standby draws seem trivial — a few watts here and there. The problem is that they run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Common standby draws in Perth homes:

| Device | Standby draw | Annual consumption at 24hr/day | |---|---|---| | Pay TV / satellite box (Foxtel) | 15–25W | 131–219 kWh/year | | Gaming console (PlayStation/Xbox) | 10–15W idle, 0.5W off | 44–66 kWh/year (idle) | | Desktop PC (sleep mode) | 5–20W | 44–175 kWh/year | | Older plasma TV (standby) | 5–15W | 44–131 kWh/year | | Modern LED TV (standby) | 0.5–2W | 4–18 kWh/year | | Microwave oven (clock display) | 2–5W | 18–44 kWh/year | | Printer (idle/standby) | 5–10W | 44–88 kWh/year | | Modem/router (always-on) | 10–15W | 88–131 kWh/year | | Cordless phone base | 2–5W | 18–44 kWh/year | | Coffee machine with clock | 5–10W | 44–88 kWh/year |

At A1 tariff (33.26c/kWh):

• A Foxtel box drawing 20W costs $58/year in standby
• A gaming console in idle mode costs $15–$22/year
• A modem that stays on draws 10W all day — $29/year, though this is genuinely "in use"

A household with a pay TV box, gaming console, desktop PC, two older TVs, and a printer could be spending $150–$200/year on standby power alone.

Devices that legitimately stay on

Not everything in standby is waste. Some devices have good reasons to stay powered:

Always-on (justified):

• Modem/router — must be on for internet connectivity
• Alarm system — must be powered continuously
• Refrigerator and freezer — obviously must run continuously
• Smart home hub (if you use automations) — must be reachable
• Battery management system — must monitor and manage the battery

Could be turned off but aren't (waste):

• TVs on instant-on standby (most modern TVs boot in under 5 seconds)
• Gaming consoles not actively downloading updates
• Desktop computers set to sleep but not shut down
• Printers (unless you print frequently)
• Pay TV boxes (stream via app instead of satellite for off periods)

How to measure your standby load

Plug-in power meter: A plug-in energy monitor (Belkin Conserve, Kogan, Arlec — around $20–$40) measures the draw of any individual device. Plug a power strip into it and you can measure a whole entertainment unit at once.

Smart meter interval data: If you have a smart meter (interval data meter), your Synergy usage data shows 30-minute consumption intervals. Look at consumption between 2am–5am when your household is definitely asleep and all devices are idle. That figure — typically 0.1–0.5 kWh per 30-minute interval — is your baseline standby load. Multiply by 48 to get daily standby consumption.

For a household drawing 0.3 kWh/30min overnight, that's 0.6 kWh/hour, or 14.4 kWh/day in standby — $4.75/day at A1 tariff. On top of this, active usage adds to the bill.

BillWise analysis: Upload your Synergy bill to BillWise — the tool can identify unusually high overnight or baseline consumption compared to typical households in your situation, flagging whether your standby draw is above average.

Highest-priority fixes

Pay TV / set-top box: Foxtel boxes with satellite recording typically can't be fully turned off without losing scheduled recordings. If you can switch to streaming (Netflix, Stan, Foxtel Now), replacing the satellite box with an Apple TV or Chromecast ($69–$199 one-time) eliminates 15–25W of continuous draw. Payback: under 1 year.

Old plasma TV: Plasma TVs from the 2000s–2010s draw 15W+ in standby — and 200–400W when "watching" something. Replacing a 5-year-old plasma with a modern 55" OLED or LED uses 80–120W while watching and 0.5W in standby. Energy saving: substantial. Plus picture quality improvement.

Gaming consoles: Configure to "energy saver" mode or power off completely when not in use. PlayStation 5 in rest mode draws 1.5–2W; Xbox Series X draws about 0.5W when fully off. The difference between "rest mode for updates" and "off" is small on modern consoles. The older generation (PS4, Xbox One) were worse offenders.

Desktop PC: Shut down or hibernate rather than sleep. A desktop in deep sleep (hibernate) draws under 1W; in standard sleep it may draw 5–20W to maintain RAM state.

Power strips with timers or smart switching: A timer power strip on the entertainment unit can cut power to the TV, game console, and home theatre system at midnight and restore at 6am — eliminating overnight standby without requiring manual action. Cost: $20–$40.

Standby and solar self-consumption

Standby loads are small but continuous — they run overnight and early morning when solar isn't generating. They add to your overnight grid draw, which you can't offset with daytime solar.

Reducing standby is particularly valuable for:

• Households with large solar systems where daytime self-consumption is already good and the remaining bill is dominated by overnight draw
• Households on Midday Saver where overnight loads cost 24.34c/kWh regardless of time

A standby audit is free and often identifies $50–$150/year of savings with zero capital investment.

Simple actions

1. Tonight: Walk through the house at bedtime and note what's in standby (glowing lights, clocks, warm devices). Note the obvious culprits.
2. This week: Install a timer power strip on the TV/entertainment unit. Total cost: $20.
3. This month: Consider whether pay TV is worth replacing with streaming to eliminate the satellite box standby.
4. Ongoing: Check 2am–4am smart meter data via My Synergy to track baseline overnight consumption.

Standby power draws are typical ranges for common Australian household devices. Specific draws vary by brand, model, and age. Measure your own devices with a plug-in power meter for accurate data.